Adani group's Vizhinjam project: tension escalates as fishermen halt trucks carrying boulders

Thiruvanthapuram: On Saturday, tension erupted at the Vizhinjam International Seaport Limited construction site in Thiruvananthapuram when opponents of the project, including fishermen, clashed with supporters of various Hindu organisations who wanted the project finished right away.

The Adani group decided to resume work on Saturday after the high court's intervention. The project's construction has been halted for the past four months as a result of the fishermen's protest against the Rs 7,500-crore project. As a result, about 20 trucks carrying boulders for the construction of a breakwater arrived close to the gate of Adani Ports and SEZ Private Limited. However, the fishermen, led by the Catholic Church, were able to stop all the vehicles, causing a tense situation.

Numerous individuals arrived at the location under the banner of a local people's action committee, which has been supporting the project. Even though a sizable police presence attempted to calm the situation, both sides continued to argue and throw stones at one another. The enraged fishermen stoned a couple of trucks. Only when the trucks were removed from the project site did the situation become less tense.

The Adani company was successful in getting a favourable ruling from the high court, which instructed the state government to resume operations with police protection. The protesting fisherman have been banned from disrupting building activity by the high court as well.

The government was requested by the fisherman to halt construction work, as well as to conduct a scientific investigation on the effects of building along the coastal strip. The fishermen had also presented a list of seven demands.

The fishermen had claimed that the development had caused severe sea erosion, resulting in the destruction of homes and sources of income along the Thiruvananthapuram coast. However, the government turned down the request to halt the project's construction, which had already missed the 2019 deadline due to a number of issues, including a lack of boulders for the breakwater's construction.

Christian fishermen are opposed to the proposal, but the local people's action organisation has gradually grown into a powerful Hindu advocate for the Adani port. This action committee has also been demonstrating for the project's completion for the past two months. The upper caste Nair Service Society, the OBC Hindu organisation Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam, and Vaikunda Swami Dharma Pracharana, which has a substantial stake among the Hindu Nadar community in Southern Kerala, all support the action committee. In order to support the project, CPI(M) and BJP representatives shared the dais of the local action committee last month, burying their political differences in the process.