Even as the Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is on a state visit to India, Maharashtra’s Environment Minister, Ramdas Kadam, on Wednesday announced the cancellation of land acquisition for the Saudi Arabia-backed Nanar refinery project in Maharashtra.

In April last year, Saudi Aramco, which is one of the largest crude producers in the world, had signed a partnership with Indian PSUs to build a $44-billion refinery and petrochemical project at Nanar village in the coastal Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra.

The project has been facing trouble from the locals over issues of pollution and loss of land. Shiv Sena, which is sharing power in Maharashtra with the BJP, has been the most vocal supporter of the locals.

Kadam, who is also a senior leader of the Shiv Sena, said land acquisition for the project has been scrapped and before the election Code of Conduct comes to force a formal notification will be issued by the Maharashtra government. The project will not come up anywhere in the coastal Konkan region, he said.

The Minister said the scrapping of the refinery project in Ratnagiri was the first condition that Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had placed before BJP President Amit Shah when talks were held two days ago for forging an alliance for the Parliamentary elections.

He said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has given an assurance to Industries Minister, Subash Desai, that a notification cancelling the land acquisition for the refinery project will be issued before the Model Code of Conduct sets in.

The project requires about 14,000 acres in 14 villages of Ratnagiri and 1,000 acres in two villages of Sindhudurg, the neighbouring district.

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