The following was said regarding the aim behind organising the protest:

“Konkan is known for its vast bio-diversity forests, rock carvings, coconut and mango groves, clean and beautiful beaches; but recently, a situation has arisen as to whether the vast beaches and natural resources here are rising at the root of Konkan. Many destructive projects are being launched in the name of Konkan in the name of development. Raigad area, which is part of Konkan, has always been engulfed by polluting projects. Many projects in Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts are being imposed on the public in the name of employment. By setting up a refinery project in the Barsu-Solgaon area, the nature, agriculture, fishing, coconut-palm, mango-banana gardens are going to be destroyed. Now is the time to fight.”

At the protest, alternatives were also be presented to force the state government to adopt an alternative development policy that creates environmentally balanced employment based on natural resources in Konkan.

Background of the refinery

The Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemical Project, proposed in 2014 by the Modi government and the Maharashtra BJP-Shiv Sena government, has been endorsed as Asia’s largest oil refinery. It was supposed to be a joint venture between three Indian PSUs – Indian Oil, HPCL, and BPCL – and Saudi Arabia’s Aramco and the National Oil Company of the United Arab Emirates.

The project was proposed to be located in Nanar over a 200-square-kilometer area. While land-grabbers, speculators, and BJP leaders eager to expand the party’s presence in the Konkan region embraced the project concept, locals and activists led protests against the proposed project, citing concerns that the Konkan area has already been overloaded and overcrowded with several major plants, which has already resulted in the environment taking a heavy toll.

It is important to note that, since the Tarapur nuclear power plant was built in 1969, a slew of projects have sprung up along the coast, polluting the air and discharging hazardous effluents into the creeks without treatment. Locals and activists have highlighted time and again that all of these projects have wreaked havoc on the environment, resulting in massive water and air pollution, the destruction of local livelihood chains, and massive displacement and dispossession of people. As a result, each project has been the subject of lengthy protests since its inception, with an increasing number of people feeling the adverse effects.

It is also worth noting that previously, in the face of growing public opposition, the Shiv Sena had insisted on the project’s cancellation, and the BJP had been forced to accept the demands of the Shiv Sena and cancel the project. However, with the BJP regaining power by splitting the Shiv Sena, the Shinde-Fadnavis government had announced its intention to restart the project. Previously, the Uddhav Thackeray government proposed downsizing the project and relocating it north of the old site, adjacent to the Jaitapur project, in the Barsu-Solgaon-Devache Ghotane area. Despite the outrage and criticism, the Shinde government had revived the original project idea last year.

In November 2022, the government sent armed police personnel of the Rapid Action Force (RAF) and the Riot Control Police to carry out a route march in Rajapur and the surrounding villages where the refinery is planned. Along with Rajapur police, 60 RAF personnel and 29 Riot Control personnel were part of this march.

In February of 2023, shockwaves were sent through the country when journalist Shashikant Warishe was killed after being run down and crushed by a vehicle purportedly driven by Pandharinath Amberkar, a local land-dealer and accused in multiple land grab cases in the disputed Barsu refinery in Maharashtra’s western Konkan district. Warishe had been covering issues relating to the establishment of Ratnagiri Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd (RRPCL) near Barsu, which has been met with opposition from some locals.

A few months ago, in April 2023, local protests had flared up against the proposed refinery project and the surveys scheduled for soil testing in Ratnagiri’s Barsu village, pursuant to which Section 144 of CrPC was imposed and protestors were detained. Local activists and journalists, involved in supporting the village against the proposed location of the Ratnagiri Refinery Petrochemicals Ltd., were detained too.

Related:

Maharashtra Govt compelled to withdraw 144 orders against residents & protesters: Barsu Refinery

#NoToBarsuRefinery: Protestors manhandled and arrested, activist re-arrested after attaining bail

Activist actively involved in protesting against the Barsu-Solgaon refinery project detained by police

Journalist Shashikant Warishe murdered for uncovering anomalies in the Barsu Refinery project

The post #NoToBarsuRefinery: Protest in Mumbai to demand permanent deportation of the refinery project appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Villagers lie down in protest against the survey of their land for the refinery project

As the people’s sit-in protest on the sada areas (laterite plateaus) in Barsu reaches its third day today, two of those detained have finally been released from judicial custody. However, they face externment from Ratnagiri district for the next 15 days.

The drilling at one of the sites in Barsu has begun. The people’s protest continues despite the state’s attempts at subduing it. While no detentions have taken place on Wednesday as yet, people continue to stand their ground in scorching heat to prevent the project from taking over their lands and lives.

On day 2, several women and men were picked up by the police from the protest sites and taken to several police stations, to be released late at night. Several activists, whose homes are in these very villages, remain banished not just from their villages, but the entire Rajapur taluka!

On Tuesday, several women protesters slept across the roads leading to the project sites blocking the police and government vehicles trying to reach there. The locals say that these women were manhandled and taken to police stations in Ratnagiri, Purnagad, Pavas, etc. They were produced before the Court late on Tuesday night, which then ordered them to be released. They were released in Rajapur, in the middle of the night, activists say.

At the moment, local activists have reported the presence of 2 Additional Superintendent of Police, 5 Deputy Superintendents, 125 Police Officers, 1,800 police personnel (amaldars) and 3 reserved forces in Rajapur taluka. Right from day 1 of the protest, the villagers reported that 50-60 police vehicles were making rounds of villages like Barsu, Dhopeshwar, Shivane, Goval, Panhale, Devache Gothane and others across the Barsu-Solgaon region. Notices of externment and those of section 144 being invoked in the taluka were slammed on the doors of several homes in these villages.

How did the current protests begin?

Last week, the activists and locals in and around Rajapur taluka received information that the state is getting ready to begin the survey of the proposed refinery project site in Barsu-Solgaon on Monday, April 24, 2023. Since June last year, the villagers have been thwarting the State’s attempts to conduct the survey, which would mainly consist of drilling bores for soil and water testing. This is seen as the first step, crucial for approvals and assessments, towards the land acquisitions for the refinery.

However, this time, days before the survey was to begin, the State began by bringing in a large police force into Rajapur district . Many activists reported that they can see an increased presence of police in the entire taluka, with around 2,000 police expected to reach the region by Monday. Activist and movement leader Satyajit Chavan, along with other activists, gave a call to all the Kokanvaseey (the people of Konkan) to come to Rajapur and stand in solidarity with the people of Barsu-Solgaon.

On Saturday, April 22, Satyajit Chavan and Mangesh Chavan, another local activist associated with the anti-refinery movement, were detained by the Ratnagiri police. Satyajit is a renowned leader of the movement in Barsu-Solgaon, who has worked extensively with the local farmers, fishermen, pastoralists and others, mobilising the movement. Mangesh, on the other hand, was not very actively involved in the anti-refinery movement. However, activists say that he was still detained for his involvement in past people’s movements like the protest against Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project in the same district.

The latest reports say that Satyajit Chavan and Mangesh Chavan have since been released from preventive detention with externment from the district for 15 days. However, Satyajit Chavan has been taken to Rajapur police station for completing a bail procedure in an older case, wherein he is facing separate charges which include unlawful assembly, rioting, disobedience among others.

With these detentions, it became clear to the villagers that the state was trying hard to get the survey done this time. To add to it, last Saturday ( April 22, 2023) evening, the District Collector called a meeting of the refinery supporters and protesters. However, the refinery protesters have alleged that they were given the notice about the meeting barely 30 minutes before it was scheduled to begin. Very few could make it to Rajapur city to attend the meeting at such short notice. They claimed that known supporters of the project seemed to have been given notices on time, enabling them to remain present in large numbers.

It was on Saturday itself, that notices of externment and section 144 began to be drawn by Rajapur’s tehsil office and Magistrate Office.

Externment Notices: An attack on people’s fundamental rights

All the actions coming from the government to contain the protest reeks of an impediment to people’s right to freedom of expression, to their right to protest and indeed, their very right to life and livelihood.

Until now, at least four activists associated with the movement against the refinery have been detained by the police, only to be released on the condition that they will not enter the district. Moreover, over 100 protesters, local women and men from the villages affected were picked up by the police from the sites of the protests on the second day.

At least six activists associated with the protests have received externment notices, barring them from entering and moving around Rajapur taluka. All of them have their homes and livelihoods in the taluka itself. Yet they have been barred from entering the taluka till May 31. Section 144 has been imposed within 1 km radius of the drilling site at Barsu Sada, Barsu, Panhale Tarfe Rajapur, Dhopeshwar, Goval, Khalchi Wadi Goval, from April 22 to May 31.

Apart from Satyajit and Mangesh, three other activists who had come to Barsu from Mumbai were picked up by the police on Monday. While one of them was released immediately, two were detained and then produced before Lanja Court. According to local activists, they were produced in Lanja Court because of the lack of lawyers there. The two were then released and externed from the district.

Even earlier, for the past several months, Satyajit Chavan and five others actively leading the movement, were fighting externment notices issued to them for being involved in the anti-refinery protests. They were being threatened with exile from the Ratnagiri district itself, which the activists said would lead to restrictions on their access to two neighbouring districts of Sindhudurg and Raigad as well. Again to mention that all these activists have their homes in the Ratnagiri district.

Press freedom in shackles

Around two months ago, the anti-refinery movement and the suppression of the people associated with it gained national attention after the murder of local journalist Shashikant Warishe. Warishe worked with the local Marathi newspaper Dainik Mahanagari Times and extensively covered the protest against the refinery. He was run over and killed in broad daylight by a refinery supporter with known ties to politicians, Pandharinath Amberkar, hours after Warishe’s report against the latter was published. In the report, Warishe referred to Amberkar as an “accused in serious offences” and questioned why the state government was associated with him.

Warishe’s murder drew condemnation from across the nation and the State formed a Special Investigation Team to probe into it. However, activists say that while Amberkar continues to remain in jail, nothing much has happened as far as the probe into the case is concerned. In fact, an activist shared that Satyajit had been asked to come for a probe in connection with Amberkar by the Ratnagiri police, the day before he was detained. He had not appeared the same day.

Moreover, representatives of several media houses, especially Marathi TV news channels, who went to Barsu to cover the anti-refinery protests over the last two days, were barred from going near the protest or survey sites by the police. Most of the detentions, alleged manhandling of protesters by the police and alleged use of force were reported at the time when the media personnel were not allowed to cover the protest.

The political leaders in power have been seen making statements that the locals are being provoked by outsiders. Some of them are also saying that the villagers are protesting for compensation for the land and not against the refinery itself. But statements, videos of the locals coming directly from the field say otherwise.

The local protesters look at it as a tactic of intimidation by the state. “But the people are not going to fall for it, the protest will continue,” they say.

Prajakta Joshi, Chief Reporter of Indie Journal, has been covering the protests in Barsu.

This article was first published on Free Speech Collective on April 26, 2023.

The post State govt clamps down on peoples’ protests in the Konkan: Maharashtra appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The video can be viewed here:

Very disturbing visuals from Barsu emerging since morning.

Protesting villagers are being manhandled by the police, especially the women protestors are detained and are shifted from the area.

Video: @TV9Marathi pic.twitter.com/55wgkdEmqF

— Hrushikesh (@Reashiee) April 25, 2023

In another video, the police can be seen threatening the villagers to vacate the area to forcefully conduct the surveys.

The video can be viewed here:

From the visuals police can be seen threatening the villagers to vacate the area to forcefully conduct the surveys. pic.twitter.com/nYViTCKTra

— Hrushikesh (@Reashiee) April 25, 2023

Even during this deadly heat wave, the protesting women had come out in large numbers and were exercising their right to protest and dissent in order to protect their land, nature and livelihood. And yet, they were being illegally detained and being transferred.

The video can be viewed here:

In this deadly heatwave women have come out in large numbers and are protesting to protect their land, nature and livelihood. But police has detained them and have shifted them to Ratnagiri the district town.
Head of the Refinery Virodhi Sanghtna from Mumbai has been arrested. pic.twitter.com/ieWiphYrjO

— Hrushikesh (@Reashiee) April 25, 2023

Poor villagers, who are mostly indulged in the occupation of farming, have been protesting against the said project for two years. Speaking to a local journalist, one such protesting farmer stated “They have given us externment notices, they have barred some of us from our own district. During night, they are entering our houses, is it right to serve notice at night? You come in the morning, give notice, take people but you come at midnight 1 am- 2am and harass people?” He further said that “I live in the jungle, police entered my house at midnight, and my wife was alone there, when police left she fell down in dizziness. They put a notice on my house, who am I? I am a simple farmer. Why did they put a notice on my house? Show me one reason for it!”

Not willing to succumb to the oppressive tactics of the government, the protestor then says “Just because I am opposing the project, I am at fault? My panchayat has already given you the resolution! I will fight for my land! My fight for my land will continue!”

The video can be viewed here:

LISTEN TO THIS!

Keep aside your sustainability jargons!

This is real!

Attaching the English transcription along with this video

“Government is not at all understanding the reason why we are protesting from last 2 years because we are poor farmers. (1) pic.twitter.com/BeV9Qu3GVO

— Hrushikesh (@Reashiee) April 24, 2023

As reported in the Times of India, a total 111 protestors were picked up by police on Tuesday. As per the information provided, three Mumbai-based activists were among those arrested and released by a court in Lanja. As is being alleged, the police had dropped them off at Panvel. It is also essential to note that Activist Satyajit Chavan, who had been detained by the Ratnagiri Police was released on bail but has been arrested again on different charges. Allegedly, the sections of Indian Penal Code that have been invoked against him are- 143 (Punishment for Unlawful Assembly), 147 (Punishment for rioting), 149 (offences against public tranquillity), 314 (intent to cause the miscarriage of a woman with child,), 109 (Punishment of abetment), 186 (voluntary obstruction of public servant in discharge of public functions), and 188 (Disobedience to an order lawfully promulgated by a public servant). He has now been taken to the Rajapur Court.

On April 22, activists Satyajit Chavan and Mangesh Chavan, who have been actively involved in the movement against the Barsu-Solgaon refinery project in villages in Ratnagiri district’s Rajapur taluka, were detained by Ratnagiri police. The above-mentioned activists were placed in preventive detention, according to Ratnagiri Police Station In-Charge, as the administration was set to begin a survey of the proposed area for the refinery in the Barsu-Solgaon surroundings, something that the villagers have been opposing vehemently for the past two years.

Related:

Activist actively involved in protesting against the Barsu-Solgaon refinery project detained by police

Journalist Shashikant Warishe murdered for uncovering anomalies in the Barsu Refinery project

Journalist detained for interrogation for report on right wing groups

Maharashtra Farmers Set Off on Long March Again, to ‘Fight Till Last Drop of Blood’

The post #NoToBarsuRefinery: Protestors manhandled and arrested, activist re-arrested after attaining bail appeared first on SabrangIndia.