NAGPUR: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis announced on Friday that he would request petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan to sanction an inland refinery in Vidarbha. Renegade BJP MLA Ashish Deshmukh had demanded that Nanar refinery, which is facing strong opposition, should be shifted to Vidarbha. Fadnavis said that he would personally request Prime Minister Narendra Modi to approve the refinery.Deshmukh had said that if a project entailing an investment of Rs 3 lakh crore, which would create 50,000 direct jobs and one lakh indirect ones, was being opposed in Konkan, it should be shifted to Vidarbha, which was industrially backward.
Replying to a query by NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal, the CM once again made it clear that Nanar was a coastal refinery and could not be shifted inland.
BJP government is going ahead with Nanar refinery despite strong opposition from its coalition partner Shiv Sena. The ally had not allowed Assembly to function for three days, joining hands with Congress and NCP.
Nanar is being opposed as locals feel that it would pollute the environment. This would apply to Vidarbha, too, which has too many thermal power plants. However, this fact is not taken into account by those who are demanding a refinery in the region. Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has supported Deshmukh’s demand to shift the coastal refinery to Vidarbha.