A delegation of fishermen and Church members met Rahul Gandhi in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday to try and get the Congress to support their agitation against the under-construction Vizhinjam port, blamed for coastal erosion that has displaced over 300 fishing families.
A six-member team that included leaders of the Latin Archdiocese of Trivandrum met the Congress leader during the midday break from the Bharat Jodo Yatra, which reached Kerala on Sunday.
“The discussion was very fruitful. Rahulji heard us with an open mind. He has understood what we said and the ramifications (of the project),” Eugine H. Pereira, vicar-general of the archdiocese who has been leading the agitation, told reporters.
“He did not say anything about stopping work at the port but he asked the KPCC (Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee) to examine the issue and put forth its suggestions.”
A source close to the protest leaders said the purpose of the meeting was to get the Congress to support the agitation and raise the matter in Parliament.
The Rs 7,525-crore seaport is a public-private partnership between the state government and Adani Vizhinjam Port Ltd, and is designed to be the country’s deepest port capable of handling 80 per cent of its transhipment cargo.
Environmentalists and fisherfolk say the breakwater built for the project has caused coastal erosion, destroying houses and beaches. The protest has so far not received backing from the state Congress, which was in power when the deal with Adani was signed in 2015.
Continuing protests and a road blockade by the fisherfok, who want the project scrapped, has virtually stopped all work at the site since August 16.
The protesters have given the state government a seven-point charter of demands, including halting the project and commissioning an impact assessment study, proper rehabilitation of the displaced families, and heavily subsidised kerosene for fishing boats.
Another demand relates to the Muthalapozhi fishing harbour, built by the state government some 20km from Vizhinjam, whose “unscientific” construction has been blamed for dangerous high tides that have led to the death of about 60 fishermen. The protesters want a solution to the problem and timely compensation for the bereaved families.
Members of several of these families joined Rahul in the Bharat Jodo Yatra on Monday.
Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan recently ruled out shutting down the Vizhinjam project considering its national importance and the progress the work has made. But he agreed to all the other demands and promised to take up the kerosene subsidy with the Union government.
Some 335 displaced fishing families have been accommodated by the state government at a nearby godown for the last four years. The state says it is building flats for them and has offered each family a monthly rent allowance of Rs 5,500 if they choose to rent houses in the interim.