Barsar oil refinery project | Sena (UBT) MP Vinayak Raut detained during stir, cops use tear gas to disperse protesters

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Vinayak Raut detained in Barsu village in Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri district. Photo: Twitter/@Vinayakrauts

Police on April 28 detained Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Vinayak Raut at Barsu village in Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri district after he joined a section of local people in their protest against the proposed oil refinery project there, triggering chaos at the site for some time, officials said.

Raut was detained in the afternoon, they said.

As chaos prevailed at the site, police used tear gas to disperse the protesters, who have been sitting in the Barsu-Solgaon villages Rajapur tehsil to press for their demand that the project be scrapped.

“The police asked the protesters, who have been agitating since the last four days in Barsu-Solgaon to return home. But as they refused to budge, the police personnel started evicting them,” he said.

When Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Vinayak Raut arrived at the place to meet the protesters, he and his supporters were stopped by the police. After that, they sat on a road there as a mark of protest, following which they were allowed to meet the local protesters, he said.

“But after some time, the police detained MP Raut and his supporters,” he said.

Police personnel also used tear gas to disperse the protesters from the site, the official said. Due to the action, the protesters started running away from the protest site, he said.

In a tweet after the police action, MP Vinayak Raut said, “The soil survey work for the proposed Barsu refinery began on Tuesday. In order to oppose it, hundreds of locals have been protesting at the site since Monday. When we were going to meet the protesters, we were stopped by the police, but when we sat on the road as a mark of protest, they allowed us.” “My supporters and I were arrested during a protest at Barsu,” he added.

Two companies of the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF), around 1,000 police constables and 120 officers are currently deployed at the protest site. On April 25, the Ratnagiri police arrested 111 people, most of them women, during a protest against the proposed refinery.

A section of local residents fear that the mega project will adversely affect the fragile biodiversity of the coastal Konkan region and also hit their livelihood.

The Shiv Sena (UBT), Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress have been supporting these residents and have said the state government must proceed only after all the fears of the people are allayed.

Maharashtra Congress criticises government

Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole criticised the Eknath Shinde-led State government for “forcing” the oil refinery project on the residents of Barsu village in Ratnagiri district and demanded that locals be taken into confidence before going ahead with it.

A section of people from Barsu in Rajapur tehsil, more than 400 km from Mumbai, have been opposing the mega refinery-petrochemical complex proposed to be set up at an estimated cost of several thousand crore claiming that it would destroy the ecology of the coastal region. More than 100 people were arrested on Tuesday for protesting against the project.

The Shiv Sena (UBT), the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress, all partners in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) have been supporting these residents and have said the State government must proceed only after all the fears of the people are allayed.

The Barsu site is an alternative to the one at Nanar, also in Ratnagiri in the State’s Konkan region. Talking to reporters, Mr. Patole said the project cannot be brought in by attacking the locals.

“The project can be implemented only by taking people into confidence. If the government continues to indulge in high-handedness, then we will give a befitting reply,” the Congress leader said.

State Industries Minister Uday Samant, who belongs to the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, admitted that there is tension in Barsu.

“Villagers who are in favour of and against the refinery project held talks with the government yesterday. But some people want to create hurdles,” he said, without naming the Sena (UBT).

The Sena (UBT), which has come out in support of the residents, has demanded an immediate end to “atrocities” against protesters.