Congress MP Shashi Tharoor will skip the ceremonial trial run at the Adani-built Vizhinjam transhipment port in Thiruvananthapuram, protesting the state government’s failure to deliver the promised compensation to the hundreds of fishermen the project has displaced.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP made the announcement in a Facebook post on Thursday afternoon, criticising the Left Democratic Front government for failing to fully deliver the compensation and rehab package that the Congress-led United Democratic Front government had sanctioned in 2015.
“As we welcome a trial run tomorrow, I would like to remind the Government of Kerala of its solemn duty to afford adequate compensation to those whose lives and livelihoods have been affected by the advent of the seaport,” Tharoor wrote.
Tharoor is the longest serving member of the board of directors of the Vizhinjam International Seaport Limited, and was invited to Friday’s event to welcome the first mothership to dock at the seaport.
The Congress politician owes his fourth consecutive Lok Sabha poll victory mainly to coastal and semi-urban voters, who helped him overturn BJP candidate Rajeev Chandrashekar’s 25,000-plus lead from urban areas and eventually win by over 15,000 votes.
“The United Democratic Front-led Government of Kerala sanctioned, in September 2015, a rehabilitation package of INR 475 crores, which had to be disbursed in five years. However, ever since the Left Democratic Front assumed power in 2016, it has not delivered — as it ought to have — on this promise,” Tharoor wrote.
Tharoor reiterated that he supported all the demands of the displaced fishing community except one — the stoppage of work at the project. He said he stood for the seaport project — criticised by many environmentalists — considering its larger benefits to the state’s economy.
“Equally dismaying, rehabilitating those displaced by instances of coastal erosion, linked to the seaport, has not occurred and is equally imperative,” he posted.
“While these major concerns are pending, I regret that my participation in the celebration of the trial run, taking place between the grand event that was organised to welcome the first arrival of a cargo ship at Vizhinjam on October 15, 2023, and the formal inauguration of port operations later this year, would not be appropriate.”
Tharoor was among those present when chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan welcomed the Chinese ship Zhen Hua 15, which brought in gantry cranes meant for the seaport last October.
San Fernando, a 300-metre-long cargo vessel loaded with 1,900 containers, docked at the seaport on Thursday for Friday’s official trial run ceremony. The docking marked the beginning of commercial operations at the seaport.
There’s uncertainty also over the attendance of Archbishop Thomas J. Netto, head of the Latin Archdiocese of Trivandrum, which spearheaded the agitation against the seaport and the “injustice” to the displaced people, including the fisherfolk.
The Latin Church was at the forefront of the Vizhinjam Samara Samithi (Vizhinjam protest forum) that organised a months-long blockade outside the main gates of the ₹7,525-crore seaport project, being built by Vizhinjam Adani Port Pvt Ltd.
Backed by environmentalists, the protesters had alleged that the project had caused massive coastal erosion, destroying hundreds of houses and forcing 335 families from the local fishing village to seek temporary accommodation in a warehouse.
The strike was called off after 138 days on December 6, 2022, following assurances from the state government about meeting most of their demands except for stopping work at the port. But the displaced people say the state government has yet to fulfil all the promises it made, including permanent houses for all.
