The Thiruvananthapuram Archdiocese of the Catholic Church (Latin rite), which is spearheading the fishermen's protest against the Vizhinjam International Seaport, has decided to hold an environmental impact assessment of the port project along the coastline of the affected areas in Thiruvananthapuram.
Earlier, the State government had constituted a four-member panel to study if the construction of the port has caused any coastal erosion in the region.
Though the Church-led action council demanded that an expert member suggested by the fishermen be included in the panel, no local experts have been included in the government panel headed by M.D. Kudale, former Additional Director, Central Water and Power Research Station (CWPRS), Pune. Following this, the council announced that it would hold a parallel study to assess the impact of the port along the shoreline.
In a press release issued on Wednesday, action council general convener Fr. Eugene Pereira said the report to be prepared by the panel constituted by the Archdiocese would be placed before the public. The action council also said the statement of the Chief Minister that the State government had reached a consensus on six out of seven demands raised by the fishermen was misleading. No reasonable and realistic decisions had been made on the demands raised by the fishermen during the talks. It was also not right to depict the fishermen as anti-development, the press note said.
Meanwhile, art-cultural gatherings were held at 14 district headquarters, including in front of the Secretariat, in solidarity with the strike. The fishermen also blocked a ‘jhankar’ carrying boulders to the port construction site at Muthalapozhi by blocking it with fishing vessels. Earlier, the fishermen also prevented the attempt to bring boulders to the construction site by truck, despite the High Court ordering the police to provide protection for quarrying and transport of boulders for Vizhinjam port work.
Published - October 19, 2022 10:42 pm IST
