Konkan commotion: Allegations of soil testing by authorities at Ratnagiri project site intensify protests

A call for solidarity will be sounded across Maharashtra on May 5, 2023, as protests against the multi-billion dollar proposed Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemicals project intensify, a source told Down To Earth. 

On May 6, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Uddhav Thackeray will visit the region. Meanwhile, protestors at  Barsu-Solgaon of the Konkan region have alleged coercion and illegal soil testing on part of the administration.

The project, touted as the world’s largest single-location refinery project, is a joint venture of Saudi Aramco, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and other partners such as Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd as well as Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. 

Aramco and ADNOC hold a 50 per cent of stake in the project, which is estimated to cost around Rs three lakh crore. If it materialises, the project spread across 6,000 acres of land will have a capacity of 60 million tonnes per annum. 

Also read: How the Nanar anti-refinery protests in Maharashtra clicked

However, since June 2022, the state government made multiple attempts to conduct a survey for the land acquisition and study the feasibility of the project, which the residents of 32 Gram Sabhas here have relentlessly opposed.

On April 25 this year, the state government made another attempt to conduct soil testing at Rajapur tehsil village, after which the villagers again launched a fresh protest.

Satyajit Chavan of Konkan Vinashkari Prakalp Virodhi Samiti, one of the leaders spearheading the protest, told DTE:

The villagers have thwarted multiple attempts made by the state government. To counter the resistance, the state government started drilling for soil testing on three sites owned by private persons.

Chavan said the company representatives also approached some villages in a bid to convince them to agree to the project.

“The superintendent of police and the industries minister Uday Samant, have spread misinformation and made aggressive attempts to force the villagers to agree. They have lied that residents are agreeing and demanding more compensation for the land. The truth is no villagers want the project to take off,” he said.

A call for solidarity across Maharashtra will be held on May 5, a day before the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Uddhav Thackeray’s visit to the region, Chavan added.

“It is appealed that all people of Maharashtra opposing the project should raise their voices at regional level,” he said. The move is to step up against the government’s attempt to push the project at all costs, he said.

“Since April 25, 350 people have been detained including me. Some 2,500 personnel are deployed to curb the protest and 45 people including farmer leader Raju Shetty, were externed from their native villages,” he added.

The project was first proposed in Nanar, nearly 20 kilometres from Barsu, in 2017. But it was later scrapped by the Ministry of Environment Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) in 2019 due to feasibility concerns in the backdrop of environmental impact assessment.

A fresh proposal pitching Barsu was presented to Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation in 2019, Chavan explained.

Chavan suspects that with the recent uncertainty in the government’s political future, the state is leaving no stone unturned to get the project going. 

“The discrepancies in the acquisition of 2,000 acres for the first phase of the project should be investigated. The land worth Rs 800 crore has been purchased at throwaway prices of Rs 50 lakh by proxy buyers. It is a land scam that needs to be scrutinised,” he alleged. 

Ecological concerns

The proposed location for the refinery project is an eco-sensitive zone, according to experts. A Pune-based scientist, on condition of anonymity, said the area’s geography is unique as it has sand dunes and mangroves which serve as nesting sites for Olive Ridley turtles, corals, amphibians, reptiles and other biodiversity.

Bombay Natural History Society has listed Jaitapur in the high conservation index considering the unique biodiversity and suggested the area should be protected, Chavan added.

“Moreover, the petroglyphs (rock carvings) found in Sindhudrug district are also threatened by the project. If the site becomes operational, it will pollute the land, water and will have impacts similar to that of Lote Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation at Chiplun,” he added.

In a report submitted to the MoEFCC, the noted environmentalist Madhav Gadgil said the government’s own Ratnagiri Zonal Atlas for Industries stresses there should not be further projects to pollute the environment in the region. 

A field visit Lote Abhyas Ghat with the help of the Maharashtra State Pollution Control Board conducted in 2010 revealed the untreated effluents from the plant were released into the streams that provided water to Kotavale village, he said.

The toxic waste from industries pumped into the ground through bore wells has been affecting the villagers’ health, the report stated. The industrial complex employing 11,000 people during the time, rendered 20,000 fishermen jobless as the pollutants reduced the fish population in the area, it added. The implementation of such projects should be prevented at all costs, Gadgil said.

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