Maharashtra: 30 women held during protest at refinery site in Ratnagiri

More than 30 women were detained by the police after they protested by lying on the road to stop government vehicles from entering the proposed site of a giant refinery at Barsu village in Maharashtras coastal Ratnagiri district on Tuesday an official saidAs local residents vented their anger against the mega project which they fear will adversely affect the fragile biodiversity of the coastal Konkan region and also hit their livelihood the Opposition Shiv Sena UBT came out in their support and demanded an immediate end to atrocities against protestersA government team was scheduled to conduct a survey at the site in Barsu and Solgaon areas of Rajapur around 400km from Mumbai on Monday but locals started staging protests the official saidLocal people in the coastal district have been protesting against the soil survey work for the multibillion dollar refinery projectSeveral women participated in the protest on Tuesday morning during which they lay on the ground to prevent vehicles of the district administration and police from entering the area he saidConsidering the law and order situation hundreds of police personnel were deployed at the project site the official saidRatnagiri Superintendent of Police Dhananjay Kulkarni and other senior police officials were at the spot to avoid any untoward incident he saidMore than 30 women protesters were detained and taken to a police station in Ratnagiri he said adding no case has been registered so farAlso Read Ajit Pawar calls for sensitive handling of protests against Ratnagiri projectOpposition leader Ajit Pawar of the NCP had earlier in the day demanded that protests by locals against the refinery project be handled sensitively and urged that the state government stop the survey work till a peaceful solution was foundShiv Sena UBT Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut demanded an immediate end to atrocities against locals in Barsu and asserted the party will not sit quietly on the issue and back the peopleTalking to reporters Raut alleged the protesters at Barsu were being pressurised by Industries Minister Uday Samant with the help of policeThis is a government with a perverse mentality They want a Jallianwala Baghlike massacre We are with people and the Shiv Sena UBT will not sit quiet Raut saidHe said Chief Minister Eknath Shinde thinks he is a messiah of the poor but has left on a threeday leave in a helicopter a reference to the CM going to his hometown in Satara districtShinde should instead take the helicopter to Barsu and meet the protesters there said the Rajya Sabha memberShiv Sena UBT leader Aaditya Thackeray said The government should stop atrocities on people and also the soil surveyThe former state environment minister said the government should start a dialogue with the agitating local residentsThe previous Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA government had put some conditions before giving a nod to the project which included taking the locals into confidence and explaining the details of the venture and its benefits Thackeray saidHe said while the antirefinery protests have intensified CM Shinde is on leave a reference to his Satara visitThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever