Konkan, April 23: The Maharashtra Industrial Minister and Senior Shiv Sena Leader Subhash Desai on Monday made an announcement in presence of Uddhav Thackeray, Sena Chief in (Nanar), Ratnagiri Konkan that the land acquisition notification had been revoked. Desai also ensured the refinery project affected people that the proposed project would not take place. Meanwhile, Sena party chief Uddhav Thackeray who is on a one-day Konkan tour asked people not to sale their lands to Gujaratis. Earlier, claims had been made that Gujarati businessmen were found buying lands from villagers to grab the opportunity from the proposed refinery project over there. Also, many villagers were  fooled and unknowingly their lands been taken over by them.

Meanwhile, reacting to Desai's remark over the land acquisition notification Chief Minister (CM) Devendra Fadnavis said, "The decision on the refinery project is to be taken by the high-powered committee. Also, so far no such proposal has been received by him to cancel the project." Further dismissing the claims of the Industrial minister, CM Fadnavis said, "He (Subhash Desai) is not authorised to cancel the notification of land acquisition for refinery project. It’s his opinion and not the government decision."

Sena and  BJP are at loggerheads over the project. The refinery project is a joint venture of three Indian oil companies — IOC, BPCL and HPCL — and oil giant Saudi Aramco. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Aramco and the Indian consortium on April 13. The mega project is expected to generate one lakh jobs and bring in investment of up to Rs 1 lakh crore.

Thackeray, during the rally took on the BJP and said the central government should shift the project to Gujarat or Vidarbha. “What happened to Gujarat, we will not let that happen to Nanar(Konkan). Let the project go to Gujarat," said Thackeray.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 23, 2018 04:37 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).