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Maharashtra

Fadnavis rakes up stalled Nanar mega-refinery issue, embarrasses MVA

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Under a vicious onslaught from opposition parties over the Vedanta Group-Foxconn loss, the Maharashtra government on Thursday attempted to corner the Maha Vikas Aghadi by raking up the stalled Nanar oil refinery mega-project.

As Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his team attempted to hit out at the MVA, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis fired a missile from Russia questioning the proposed mega-oil refinery project in Maharashtra which has been stuck for over three years.

“It is disappointing that negative, false, and baseless claims are being spread to gain political mileage (on the Vedanta-Foxconn project shift to Gujarat). This is only to hide their own incompetence,” said Fadnavis, hitting out at the MVA.

“I want to ask the Opposition leaders, who sent back the Rs 3.5 lakh crore refinery project from Maharashtra?… My advice to these leaders is to focus on becoming competent and efficient, not negative and desperate,” he added.

The oblique reference was to the Ratnagiri Refinery & Petrochemical Ltd (RRPCL) which was planned to be set up at Nanar (Ratnagiri) in 2015, as a joint venture between the Saudi Arabian oil company, Saudi Aramco and India’s consortium of oil majors like Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL), Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) and Indian Oil (IOCL).

Former MVA CM and Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray was opposed to the proposed super-refinery project on 15,000 acres land at Nanar in Ratnagiri owing to stiff resistance from the local farmers and fishers.

In March 2021, Thackeray had announced that in view of strong local sentiments, the mega-oil refinery would be shifted out of Nanar to an alternative site somewhere in Maharashtra.

With a capacity of 60 million tonnes, and 20,000 direct jobs in the complex, the RRPL plant would have been the world’s single largest oil refinery complex, but it was plagued by massive opposition from the local communities with several agitations carried out against it in the past.

Commenting on the Shinde-Fadnavis government’s charge, Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar said that they have never opposed any projects including RRPCL, that are in the interest of the state’s progress.

As the Vedanta-Foxconn issue boiled, unconfirmed reports suggested that the RRPCL has reportedly issued a deadline to Maharashtra government to take a final call on it or they could scout some other state, but state officials have denied any such development.

disaster

Mumbai’s Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Sudhakar Pathare, who was posted in the Port Zone, passed away in a road accident on Saturday.

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Pathare had visited Hyderabad for training. He was on his way to visit a temple with a relative when the accident occurred. Both Pathare and his relative lost their lives in the crash.

Mumbai Police have been informed about the incident.

More details are awaited.

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Maharashtra

Order to demolish the tomb of Hazrat Syed Bale Shah Baba in Mira Bhayander

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Mumbai: The state government has issued an order to demolish the four hundred year old dargah of Hazrat Syed Bale Shah Peer Rahmatullah Alaih located in Mira Bhayander. Mira Bhayander Municipal Corporation has sent a letter to the collector declaring this dargah illegal and ordered action against it. As the dargah is located on forest land, communalists had started demanding the demolition of the dargah. In the House, Darranjan Daukhre had also demanded action against the dargah, after which now the state government has ordered to run a bulldozer on the dargah. An order has also been issued to remove and demolish the dargah by May.

Dargah trustee Amjad Sheikh said that this dargah is ancient and this order is illegal in itself. In this case, communal forces had launched a campaign against the dargah, after which this order was issued.

There is a dargah on the beach and citing the threat of terrorist and illegal activities and the presence of terrorists here, there was a demand to demolish the dargah. The dargah is close to the sea and in such a situation, the threat of a terrorist attack on Mumbai from the sea has been expressed, while the dargah administration has clearly denied this and said that communal organizations are running their agenda against the dargah and there is no such threat. Muslims have opposed this decision of the government and Muslims have also expressed their displeasure and anger over it.

The trustee says that this dargah is ancient and earlier the collector and the municipal corporation had given a notice, after which the illegal shed and other premises were demolished here and the dargah administration has taken this action at its own level. Now an order has been issued to demolish the dargah itself.

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Maharashtra

Haji Ali Dargah will be closed for pilgrims for a few hours on Eid due to rising sea level

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Mumbai: Due to rising sea level at Haji Ali Dargah in Mumbai, the dargah will be closed for pilgrims for a few hours on Eid. On March 31, the dargah will be closed for pilgrims from 12 noon to 3 pm. During this time, entry of pilgrims to the dargah will be restricted. The dargah will be closed on Tuesday, April 1 from 12:45 pm to 3:45 pm and on Wednesday, April 2 from 1:30 pm to 4:30 pm.

Therefore, we have appealed to the pilgrims not to gather at the dargah during these hours. This information has been released by Tahir, administrative officer of Haji Ali Dargah. Pilgrims visit Haji Ali Dargah on Eid-Basi and Tiwasi, but due to the rising water level of the sea, water gets accumulated on the way to the Dargah and entry to the Dargah is prohibited and the gate of the Dargah remains closed during these days, due to which there is a lot of crowd there. Therefore, pilgrims have been requested to come to the Dargah only at the scheduled time.

The police also remains vigilant at the Dargah during the rising sea level, as there is a crowd of pilgrims here during Eid and festivals. The Haji Ali Dargah administration has said that on the occasion of Eid, lakhs of pilgrims visit the Dargah of Haji Ali (RahmatullahAlaih). These pilgrims include pilgrims from the country and abroad, so the Dargah administration has also claimed special security arrangements on Eid. Spiritual scenes are also seen at Haji Ali Dargah during Eid prayers.

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