"Maharashtra: The Indians taking on giant Saudi-backed refinery", 15 June 2023

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....[T]housands of people protesting plans to acquire an expansive laterite plateau...to build the world's largest petrochemical refinery in western India's ecologically fragile Konkan belt.

In late April, angry protests erupted in Ratnagiri district of the western Indian state of Maharashtra when authorities began testing the soil for the mega project to be built by a consortium of Indian state-run oil majors and global giants Saudi Aramco and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC).

Thousands of villagers, led by women, braved the intense summer temperatures and lay on the roads to prevent officials from entering the site. Many others shaved their heads and went on a hunger strike to mark their dissent.

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When talks with the villagers proved unsuccessful, police imposed a curfew on their movement and used batons and teargas to disperse the protesters. Women protesters and anti-refinery activists were detained, some for several days.

Across the region, there's now simmering discontent over what villagers allege were "undemocratic and coercive" tactics by authorities...