Thiruvananthapuram: Around 30 protesters, mostly poor fisherfolk and priests from the Latin Catholic Church sit in small groups under a tin-roofed tent, scrolling their phones or making small talk, unmindful of the TV news playing nearby. Just 50 metres away, another tent of protestors blare Hindu devotional music, as saffron flags flutter in the wind.
The people in the second tent are protesting against those in the first, something almost unheard of in Kerala’s seasoned hartal (strike) culture.
At stake is the billionaire Gautam Adani-led Rs 7,700 crore Vizhinjam Port, which aims to be India’s first ‘mega transshipment container terminal’. Dozens of riot police stand guard forming a wall between the two protesting camps and maintaining a fragile peace in the communally tense climate in the outer villages of Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala’s capital.
“We are doing this for our survival, but the other side is trying to portray it as a religious struggle,” Father Deepak (who goes by his first name), of a nearby church, told ThePrint. According to him, the port will lead to sea erosion and loss of livelihoods for fishermen unable to venture into sea owing to the port and for those whose land gets acquired for the project.
Religion plays a very big role in the everyday lives of most people in Kerala, especially among Christians and Muslims, who depend on priests and maulvis to arbitrate disputes and quarrels in their respective neighbourhoods, said observers. So when the high-ranking priests of the Latin Catholic Church here decided to oppose the port, the response was instant from members of the community.
The protestors have been camping on site for 136 days now. Clashes have so far seen as many as 80 people injured, a police station attacked, a bishop booked for “promoting enmity” and allegations of “terrorist” and “anti-nationals” have been hurled back and forth.
But the Vizhinjam port project has also done the politically unthinkable. Last month, members of the CPI(M) and the BJP even marched together in a rally led by the Save Vizhinjam Action Council.
The Kerala High Court Friday asked for the Union government’s response regarding deployment of central forces to maintain security near the port area. Adani had approached the courts seeking deployment of central forces, claiming that the state government had not provided adequate protection nor cleared out the protestors to allow work to resume. The case will be heard again on 7 December.
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Cost of development?
The Vizhinjam Port project was first conceived in 1991, to be developed in a public-private partnership. Adani was the sole bidder for the project and the contract was signed in 2015 under the Oomen Chandy-led United Democratic Front (UDF)-led government.
Work started in December 2015 and the first phase of the port was expected to be completed by December 2019, but has been delayed owing to protests, shortage of stones for the breakwater and the Covid-19 pandemic.
In Phase 1, the port is expected to have a capacity of 1 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) and in subsequent phases, another 6.2 million TEUs will be added.
The port falls just 10 nautical miles from the international shipping line, very close to the East-West shipping axis and is well-positioned to capture more business from other maritime hubs like Sri Lanka, Dubai and Singapore. It also promises huge economic growth for the state.
The proposed port has a natural depth of 18 metres, which can bring in large vessels and in effect, bigger consignments.
“In light of these findings by independent experts and institutions, we feel that the ongoing protests are motivated and against the interests of the state and the development of the port,” the Adani group has reportedly said in a statement.
ThePrint reached the company spokesperson over phone, but he declined comment citing that the matter is subjudice.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said Thursday “if the project is abandoned, it would badly damage the credibility of the state”. He added: “This move (the agitation) is not against the government. This is to thwart the progress and unity of the state. That would not be allowed even if the protest comes in any attire. Don’t think that the government can be threatened. The Vizhinjam port would happen.”
A cab driver in the area, Liju Krishnankutty, felt “if the port comes here, prices of most items will get cheaper”, referring to the movement of ships to Kochi, about 200 kms north of Thiruvananthapuram.
Protesters alleged, however, that Adani, the third richest man in the world, will profit at the cost of the state, as the terms have been drafted to suit the interests of the conglomerate that has a $222 billion market cap.
Joseph Vijayan, a social worker who has moved court for the project to be stopped and is a key figure of the agitation, pointed to a 2016 Comptroller & Auditor General report, which questioned the economic viability of the project and several other aspects of it.
“For the first 15 years Adani pays zero per cent revenue to the government. He then pays 1 per cent from the 15th year,” claimed Vijayan.
But a member of Kerala’s port minister’s secretariat dismissed the CAG report as “prejudiced” and agitators as “anti-nationals”.
“People are misled to believe that it’s Adani’s port. It is the Kerala government’s,” the person said, on condition of anonymity.
According to reports, Adani will pay around Rs 2,500 crore out of the Rs 7,700 crore estimated cost of the project, Rs 4600 crore will be paid by the Kerala government and Rs 818 crore will be raised through Viability Gap Funding.
However, the Rs 1600 crore breakwater being constructed by the Kerala government, the rail and road connectivity to the project have not been factored in the main project cost, alleged Vijayan.
Prasad Kurien, general manager (environment) at Vizhinjam International Seaport Limited (VISL), countered, however, that “there is an indirect and social benefit to the country”.
‘Unseen hands’
Cecily’s (she goes by her first name) eyes welled up while talking about the plight shared by her and nearly 200 others who, she claimed, have been living in four cement godowns in Valiyathura since 2018 after the land on which they lived was lost to the sea. The area is about 100 feet away from the shoreline, a few kilometres north of Vizhinjam. Small, thin plastic walls demarcate the living area of each family, she said.
While the government blames the Ockhi cyclone of 2017 for the families’ loss of habitat, the protestors claim the the rising sea levels were caused by the port construction and breakwaters, which have forced changes in sediment deposit patterns.
“Nammude naattil njangal abhayarthikalaayirikkunnu (we live like refugees in our own land),” she said in Malayalam.
While several government reports have claimed that there will be no environmental impact of the port, owing to the protests the Kerala government in October also constituted a four-member expert committee to study the impact of the project on coastal erosion.
The protestors are, however, not convinced by the government’s claims.
“Ask the MLA and others who forced us to live here to stay in this godown for just one second. Thanks to our Father (priest) we at least have walls to separate our dwellings,” screamed Alfonsia (who goes by her first name), a resident of the Valiyathura godown shelter, mirroring the anger and anguish of those around her.
The protestors’ demands include rehabilitation of families who lost their homes to sea erosion, effective steps to mitigate coastal erosion, (financial assistance to fisherfolk on days weather warnings are issued, compensation to families of those who lose their lives in fishing accidents, subsidised kerosene, and a mechanism to dredge the Muthalappozhi fishing harbour in Anchuthengu in Thiruvananthapuram district.
Earlier this year, the government passed two orders to build 750-square-feet flats to rehabilitate those living in the Valiyathura godowns and give them Rs 5,500 as rent, till their new homes are ready, said the ports minister’s office. The amount is of little use, however, in a city, where sources in the real estate market told ThePrint, property prices have shot up in anticipation of the opportunities the port will eventually bring in.
According to government data, no one was displaced and Rs 100 crore has been spent to compensate shoreline workers, people who dive near the shores for clams and other creatures and auxiliary workers, among others, who cannot use the space or beach approaching the port, Kurien said.
While several parcels of land were acquired to build a logistics park near the port, a truck terminal and meet other requirements, Kurien added that the beach itself was uninhabited.
Pro-port groups, including government representatives, who spoke to ThePrint said that the agitators are using the infrastructure project as a tool to drum up fears among the poor, as economic growth would “liberate” them and by extension reduce their dependence on these religious centres.
The BJP and groups like the Hindu Aikya Vedi have used the port agitation to mobilise support for Hindutva outfits. The BJP has little or no elected presence in Kerala’s largely binary politics, even though the left has echoed the voices of the rival right on the port.
Both pro-and-anti-port sides blame the other for the tense situation that led to the vandalising of the Vizhinjam police station Sunday, attracting a closer look from central agencies into the “unseen hands” behind the protest.
“There are many unseen hands and shadow hands that are helping these priests by paying money to stop the development of India,” an employee of the port department said, requesting anonymity.
Similar narratives had surfaced in neighbouring Tamil Nadu during the Kudankulam nuclear plant agitation in 2011 and Vedanta shooting in 2018.
Though the government and Adani have been able to tide over the legal challenges, including petitions demanding that the port construction be suspended, the on-ground situation continues to look tense as breakwater tetrapods block the entrance to the port area.
Adani has sought relief from the courts to resume the already delayed project, but the government has been unable to clear out the protestors, fearing it would flare up communal tensions. The protestors have been camping near the main entrance to the port since August.
A section of the pro-port group blamed the government for not doing enough to convince people of the benefits of the project and undermining the daunting will of the fisher folk in their resistance.
“If they (the government) don’t review the project, it won’t be a smooth process in the future,” Joseph Vijayan said.
But the port minister’s office is far more optimistic.
“We will have the first ship come in by September 2023. This will be a gift for the people on Onam”, said a key aide of Kerala ports minister, Ahammad Devarkovil.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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