Shinde-Fadnavis govt hits back at MVA over scrapped Nanar refinery project

Facing widespread criticism, with Maha Vikas Aghadi leading the attack, for losing the multi-crore Vedanta-Foxconn project to Gujarat, the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government lashed back at the Opposition—which was in governance till a few months back—drudging up the lost super refinery project at Nanar.

Deputy Chief Minister Fadnavis, who was in Russia, tweeted about Nanar: “It is disappointing that negative, false and baseless claims are being spread to gain political mileage. This is only to hide their own incompetence. I want to ask the opposition leaders, who sent back the Rs 3.5 lakh crore refinery from Maharashtra? …my advice to these leaders is to focus on becoming competent & efficient and not negative and desperate.”

Shiv Sena president, and erstwhile Maharashtra chief minister, Uddhav Thackeray had opposed the super refinery project at Nanar in Ratnagiri district; the project was scrapped at the proposed site, and new location was scouted.

Also read | Vedanta-Foxconn plant going to Gujarat is attack on Maharashtra's prestige: Shiv Sena

The super refinery project involved a memorandum of understanding signed by Saudi Arabian Oil Co. (Saudi Aramco) and an Indian consortium of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL).

The MoU was to set up India’s largest refinery and petroleum complex. The Rs lakh crore project would have become the largest single location refinery complex in the world with a capacity of 60 million tonnes.

Nationalist Congress Party MP from Baramati, Supriya Sule, however, asked the government to address the issue seriously.

“Stop this childish behaviour… get serious now…stop politicising and please convene an all-party meeting in the interest of the people of the state to discuss this issue,” she said. Saying that if needed an all-party delegation could be taken to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure that the project is restored in the state.

Meanwhile, state industry minister Uday Samant claimed that no formal MoU was signed between the government and Vedanta-Foxconn. “Yes, discussions were held but the (previous) government did not sign the MoU and a package deal was not offered,” he said.