Maharashtra withdraws order prohibiting Barsu refinery protesting farmers from entering Rajapur

MUMBAI: In a relief for eight farmers protesting the Barsu refinery, the Maharashtra on Thursday informed the Bombay high court that it was withdrawing an order prohibiting them from entering Rajapur taluka in Ratnagiri between April 21 and May 31.
Counsel for the state said it was withdrawing the order and a bench of Justice Revati Mohite-Dere and Justice S U Deshmukh accepted the statement.
But at the hearing, the bench told the state that these Section 144 Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) orders are “not tenable.” Justice Dere orally observed,"People will lose livelihood for more than a month and …they cannot be gagged."
For the eight farmers, Amol Bole and others, who on Wednesday petitioned the HC for quashing of the “arbitrary’’ prohibition, their senior counsel Mihir Desai and advocate Vijay Hiremath said, the government action was violative of their fundamental rights.
The section 144 (2) orders had orderedthem to stay out of their villages and hometowns.
The state by such order was “trying to suppress their freedom of speech and expression to assemble peacefully without arms and also to move freely throughout the territory as guaranteed by Articles 19(a),(b) and (d) of the Indian Constitution.’’
Bole, who resides at Shivne Khurd in Rajapur in Ratnagiri district, lived their since birth and does farming there to support his family, including children who are enrolled in village schools there. The second petitioner resides in Mumbai but owns agricultural land in Taral village in Taluka Rajapur, from which he earns his livelihood through Mango cultivation. He alternates his life between Mumbai and Taral to look after activities. Others all said their connection to Rajapur was also essential for their livelihood.
The petitioners informed the HC that since 2017 they have been collectively involved in supporting the struggle of the residents of the village against the proposed location of the Barsoo Refinery and Petrochemicals which is located Babulwadi, Rajapur Tehsil, Ratnagiri District, Maharashtra.
A letter dated 5 July 2017 informed them that the proposed project was supposed to cover the villages of Kashingewadi, Sagve, Vilye, Dattawadi, Palekarwadi, Katradevi, Karivane, Chouke, Nanar, Upale, Padve, Sakhar, Taral and Gothivare in Rajapur Taluka.
In January 2022, the then chief minister of Maharashtra wrote a letter to the Central Government proposing a new project site at Barsu-Solgav-Devache Gothane-Shivane Khurd-Dhopeshwar –called as Barsu Solgav Panchkroshi.
This letter prompted the residents to protest the project, they said since the project “will have long term effects of pollution on agriculture and natural resources that the people of the villages have inherited from their ancestors.” The fear is that the refinery will have long lasting impacts “for generations to come” and deprive them of their means of livelihood by severely impacting farming.