Konkan has always resisted mega projects

The scrapped Nanar super refinery project joins a list of mega projects - that have seen opposition in the coastal Konkan region of Maharashtra.

Two other projects that faced opposition were the Dabhol power project and the Jaitaput nuclear power project.

As far as the DPC was concerned, it was formed in 1992 - when the Congress government was in power. The Dabhol plant was built through the combined effort of Enron, GE, and Bechtel. GE provided the generating turbines, Bechtel constructed the physical plant and Enron was charged with managing the project through Enron International. From 1992-2001, it has seen several controversies. Thereafter, the power plant ran into trouble due to the Enron scandal leading to the bankruptcy of Enron.

It may be recalled, late BJP leader Gopinath Munde, as Leader of the Opposition vowed to "throw the Enron project into the Arabian Sea". However, in 1995 when the Shiv Sena-BJP saffron alliance government came to power and he became the deputy chief minister, things changed. Rebecca Mark, the former head of Enron International, a subsidiary of Enron, had also met Shiv Sena supremo late Bal Thackeray to discuss the project that was seeing opposition.

In 2005, it was taken over and revived by converting it into the RGPPL, which is a joint venture of NTPC Ltd, GAIL, Government of Maharashtra. Its three power blocks supply a combined 1967 MW of electricity to the Western Grid.

As far as the Jaitapur nuclear park of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) is concerned, it was one of the ambitious plans of the then Congress-led UPA government headed by Dr Manmohan Singh. The NDA government led by Narendra Modi continued with it. However, the plant had been opposed by locals and political parties including the Shiv Sena. In April 2011, a youth died in police firing during the protests in Madban-Jaitapur.

The project aims at installing 6 units of 1,650 MW power capacity - the total capacity being 9,900 MW - making it the biggest nuclear power complex in the world. It was planned in collaboration with a French company, Areva. It has now been taken over by Electricite De France (EDF). The total project cost is estimated to be around Rs 1 trillion.