Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 28 (PTI) The Keralam Assembly on Wednesday passed the Maritime Board (Amendment) Bill, 2026, with Chief Minister V D Satheesan rejecting opposition allegations that the legislation would hand over coastal land to corporate interests. The LDF staged a boycott protesting the proposed changes.
The Bill provides for restructuring the state Maritime Board, setting up a Maritime Land Bank and an enforcement wing, and revising contracts for 17 port projects.
It will become law after receiving the Governor’s assent.
While the opposition alleged that the provisions would threaten the livelihood and traditional rights of fishing communities, facilitate corporate control of ports and place coastal land at the disposal of private players, CM Satheesan maintained that the amendments were necessary to attract investment and accelerate port-led development.
Leader of Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan strongly opposed the legislation, alleging that it undermined the constitutional right to life and endangered more than 10 lakh fishermen living in 222 fishing villages across the state.
He claimed that the proposed Land Bank would be formed by taking over land belonging to other departments and warned that the legislation would permanently hand over coastal land to private and corporate interests.
Vijayan said the Bill could deprive traditional fishing communities of natural access to the sea, adversely affect more than two lakh families dependent solely on the sea for their livelihood and render fishermen unemployed by displacing them from their traditional spaces.
Alleging that the legislation was aimed at facilitating the exploitation of mineral resources, he said it would open the door to corporate interests at public expense and undermine the rights of coastal communities.
He also alleged that the proposed arrangements would sideline coastal local self-government institutions and facilitate corporate interests through independent port authorities.
The legitimate demands and resistance of fishing communities would be ignored, he said, adding that the proposed system lacked representation from coastal residents, people’s representatives as well as organisations actively working in coastal areas.
Calling the bill an unacceptable attempt to hand over the coastline to corporate interests, Vijayan said legislators representing coastal communities would betray their voters if they supported it.
He said the opposition could not agree with the legislation in any manner and staged a boycott of the House proceedings.
Rejecting the allegations, Satheesan said the proposed Maritime Land Bank would comprise land falling within the jurisdiction of respective ports and would not involve indiscriminate acquisition of land outside port limits.
The land would be used for development activities, he said, adding that it would serve as an asset for the state to explore different development models.
Questioning the opposition’s concerns, he said the Maritime Board was a statutory body and that land acquisition would be undertaken on behalf of the state for development purposes.
He asked how the entire coastal land could be brought under the Land Bank when only land coming under the respective ports was envisaged to be included.
Describing the opposition’s approach as “negative” and its arguments as “imaginative”, Satheesan also questioned its objection to the term ‘concessionaire’ used in the Bill, asking whether Adani was not a concessionaire of the Vizhinjam Iminternational port here.
The government could not develop all 18 ports on its own, he said, stressing the need for private investment and participation by investors from outside the state and foreign countries.
The government would identify ports where such investors could invest, and the land required for these development projects would be included in the Maritime Land Bank, he explained.
Satheesan said the move was intended to simplify procedures when investments arrived, noting that the precise extent of land required within port limits could not be determined in advance.
Presenting the bill last week, the chief minister had said the proposed amendments were intended to provide greater autonomy to the maritime board, expedite decision-making and facilitate the implementation of the government’s ambitious ‘Mission Samudra’ initiative to develop port cities in the state. PTI LGK SA
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