‘West Coast oil refinery will help develop Konkan’

Residents of Rajapur taluka in Ratnagiri assembled at Azad Maidan on Wednesday to protest against the proposed Nanar Refinary Project in Rajapur district. (Express Photo by Ganesh Shirsekar)

The state government on Wednesday reassured that the biggest green oil refinery, West Coast Refinery in the Konkan region of Maharashtra, will be environment-friendly which would lead to development of the region, provide employment to more than 1 lakh youths and an investment of Rs 1 lakh crore. The assurance came from Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis during a meeting with a delegation led by Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha chief Narayan Rane in Vidhan Bhawan. Rane was leading a delegation to threatened to stage agitation following apprehensions about impact of oil refinery in their region.

The delegations expressed concerns over environmental aspects following oil refinery.

Fadnavis explained that the advanced technology adopted in the country’s first green refinery would address all the apprehensions which have been raised by the delegates. More important, the project would bring the biggest ever development in the region by providing jobs to almost 1 lakh people.