111 held during protest against Barsu refinery

“The 111 people were taken into custody and produced in Rajapur court, from where they were released on bail,” Ratnagiri Superintendent of the police Dhananjay Kulkarni told The Indian Express, while denying claims by protesters that police had detained over 500 people. The villagers and activists opposing the project gathered to stop the government vehicles from entering the proposed site for the survey.

The protest also sparked a political slugfest in Maharashtra with the Mahavikas Aghadi leaders slamming the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government for using force to suppress dissenting villagers, while Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis blamed the opposition for playing politics over the issue.

The Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (RRPCL), promoted by three major public sector oil companies — Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd — was originally planned in Nanar village of Ratnagiri. The Shiv Sena (then undivided) was against the project citing local opposition, after which the Barsu-Solgaon area was finalised as the location.

However, environmental activists and villagers of Barsu and Solgaon have been protesting against the refinery project in Konkan region as they fear pollution and damage to the region, which is largely dependent on agriculture and is famous for cultivation of the Alphonso mango.

On Tuesday as the land survey began, thousands of villagers who had camped at the site since Monday morning, started protesting.

Police had deployed around 1,800 personnel, including teams of riot control police and State Reserve Police Force, at the site.

According to officials, as the survey teams with police security was entering the survey site, scores of women blocked the road, raising slogans. The police personnel then used force and detained dozens of protesters and resorted to mild lathi-charge to disperse the crowd and ensure safe passage to the survey teams.

Opposition parties have alleged that the government was misusing the police machinery to threaten and pressurise villagers and activists opposing the project. (Express Photo)

“Police assaulted those who were protesting peacefully and banned the media from the site… The government is misusing the police to suppress our voice but we will not back off and will continue to protest,” said Amol Bole, an activist.

Later in the day, the villagers held a meeting with officials of the district administration and superintendent of Ratnagiri police during which the administration asked the villagers to cooperate. However, the villagers demanded that the survey be stopped immediately.

“They wanted to us to cooperate and have a dialogue. But we demanded be stop the survey, to which the administration did not agree. Our sit-in protest will continue at the site,” Bole told The Indian Express.

Residents have been opposing the multi-billion dollar refinery project for many years fearing that it would adversely affect the fragile biodiversity of the Konkan region and also their livelihood.

The Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Shiv Sena (UBT) came in support of the villagers slamming the government for misusing the police machinery to suppress the villagers.

Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar said: “It is dictatorial of the government to arrest protesters and stop the media from telecasting the proceedings at Barsu-Solgaon. The government must respect the sentiments of the people and stop the survey process immediately.”

NCP chief Sharad Pawar Tuesday morning held talks with Industries Minister Uday Samant and asked him to release individuals arrested.