Barsar oil refinery project | Sena (UBT) MP Vinayak Raut detained during stir, cops use tear gas to disperse protesters

Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole on April 28 criticised the Eknath Shinde-led State government for “forcing” the oil refinery project on the residents of Barsu village in Ratnagiri district and demanded that locals be taken into confidence before going ahead with it.

Police on April 28 detained Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Vinayak Raut at Barsu village in Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri district after he joined a section of local people in their protest against the proposed oil refinery project there, triggering chaos at the site for some time, officials said.

Raut was detained in the afternoon, they said.

As chaos prevailed at the site, police used tear gas to disperse the protesters, who have been sitting in the Barsu-Solgaon villages Rajapur tehsil to press for their demand that the project be scrapped.

“The police asked the protesters, who have been agitating since the last four days in Barsu-Solgaon to return home. But as they refused to budge, the police personnel started evicting them,” he said.

When Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Vinayak Raut arrived at the place to meet the protesters, he and his supporters were stopped by the police. After that, they sat on a road there as a mark of protest, following which they were allowed to meet the local protesters, he said.

“But after some time, the police detained MP Raut and his supporters,” he said.

Police personnel also used tear gas to disperse the protesters from the site, the official said. Due to the action, the protesters started running away from the protest site, he said.