Mumbai: While the Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemicals (RRPCL) has expressed hope that the work of the proposed Nanar refinery project would begin next year, Shiv Sena has said that its opposition to the project would continue unabated.
The company officials said that the project work would start soon and it will be completed as per schedule in 2025.
However, Sena has reiterated its stand that it would not let the project come up at Nanar. “They are company’s employees and are bound to speak in favour of the project,” said local Sena MLA Rajan Salvi from Rajapur.
“The locals are vehemently opposing the project in the fear that the project will likely deprive them of their livelihood. Sena have stood firmly for the locals. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has already stayed the land acquisition process of the Nanar project,” said Mr Salvi.
The Congress, Nationalist Congress Party and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena also have been supporting the locals who are opposed to the project as they claim that it would damage the fragile ecology.
According to the locals, the entire Konkan belt is ecologically sensitive and is home to one of the large varieties of flora and fauna apart from animal, bird and reptile species.
The region has also been tagged as one of the most fragile ecological zones in the world. The Nanar refinery project would damage the biodiversity of Konkan, they said.
