Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today said the Nanar oil refinery project would not be forced on the people and the issue will be resolved through dialogue.
He gave this assurance in the state Legislative Council here.
Fadnavis also said that the west coast refinery project will come up anyhow, if not in Maharashtra, then somewhere else.
He was replying to a calling attention motion on Nanar refinery project moved by MLCs Sanjay Dutt, Sharad Ranpise, Bhai Jagtap, Leader of Opposition Dhananjay Munde and others.
Dutt raised question marks over the "negative environmental impact" of the proposed Nanar refinery on agriculture, fruit orchards and fishing activity in the Konkan region.
In his reply, Fadnavis said, "The Centre has taken a decision to set up a huge west coast refinery taking into account the oil security concerns of the country. This refinery is to come up in the coastal region only.
"States like Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra had shown interest to set up the refinery with an investment of Rs 3 lakh crore, which would create one lakh job opportunities," he said.
Citing an example of a refinery in Gujarat, he said the state was witnessing a huge growth in its GDP thanks to that project.
"Gujarat is able to earn a huge revenue despite the absence of excise duty from liqour. This refinery is the main source of revenue for that state. Secondly, the refineries being set up today are fourth generation. Such refineries do not pollute as they are technologically very advanced. Such refineries are being operated along the coast in Singapore and running quite well.
"Hence, taking into account all these advantages we decided to set up a refinery in Maharashtra and a notification for it was issued. Meanwhile, people started opposing the project, these included some local people, some outsiders and NGOs, fishermen and others. Nevertheless, we initiated talks with these people," Fadnavis said.
The Nanar refinery project has run into rough weather, as local people as well as parties like the Shiv Sena, a constituent of the BJP-led state government, and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) have opposed it staunchly. It snowballed into a major political issue after Industries Minister Subhash Desai of the Shiv Sena announced that the notification for land acquisition stood cancelled.
However, taking umbrage at Desai's assertion that the land acquisition notification has been "cancelled", Fadnavis had later retorted saying that he had no authority to do so.
Fadnavis said, "Through his department, he (Desai) sent a proposal to the government to cancel the notification. But the government is yet to decide on the proposal."
"The government has so far received 5,500 objections along with consent letters for 2,500 acres of land, which shows that there is opposition as well as support to the project," he said.
"Hence, we have decided not to force the project on the people. We will try to remove the misunderstanding and confusion surrounding it. The government is taking suggestions and objections from the people. We are holding discussions with the people and the government has not proceeded further.
Similarly, we have sought new detailed environment and social impact assessment reports from NEERI, IIT-Bombay and Gokhale Institute, he added.
"I want to clarify that we want to solve this issue through dialogue and don't want to force this project," Fadnavis said.
Dutt asked how can the government still hold talks on the issue when the Centre has already committed and signed an agreement with Saudi giant Aramco.
"The agreement with Aramco is for the west coast refinery and it will come up anyhow, if not here then somewhere else. This country needs oil security and it will come up in west coast only and the project with Aramco will go ahead and there is no misunderstanding in that," he said.
Bhai Jagtap sought to know the names of the people, who have given their consent for 2,000 acres of land for the project.
To this, Fadnavis said, "We will announce the names of the people provided there is no threat to their lives, or else information about them will be given to the leader of opposition or a senior leader," he said.
Dhananjay Munde sought a clarification from the government about who has the rights to issue notification on the concerned issue and on whether Nanar will happen or not happen.
In response, Fadnavis said that the higher powered committee and the CM will decide on the notification.
"Besides, the west coast refinery will come up anyhow, but Nanar refinery will pursued through dialogue and it will not be forced upon the people," he reiterated.
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