The Hindu : Kerala News : Fisherfolk oppose container terminal project at Vizhinjam

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 01, 2005

Kerala

Kerala

Fisherfolk oppose container terminal project at Vizhinjam

Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Fisherfolk have come out against the proposal to set up a container transhipment terminal at Vizhinjam and raised questions about the claims being made by the Government on the positive outcomes from development of the Vizhinjam port.

The fisherfolk and organisations representing them point out that the transhipment terminal proposal, involving reclamation of 160 hectares close to the Vizhinjam port and construction of huge breakwaters, would wreak havoc in the coastal belt and lead to massive sea erosion in the coastal villages including Kovalam. The way the project has been conceived would result in the total ruin of the Adimalathura coastal village, they say.

The Coastal Protection Council and the Fishing Areas Protection Council, representing the fisherfolk in the area, say that the campaign that all the fisherfolk in the locality would get employment once the project becomes a reality is totally baseless and has been unleashed to secure support for the project from the fisherfolk.

D. Christudas and Mercy Alexander of the Coastal Area Protection Council and A. J. Vijayan and A. Jerome Fernandes of the Fishing Careas Protection Council have pointed out in a statement here today that even according to the project report prepared by the Government, the project would generate only 819 direct employment opportunities initially and a total of 2,764 such opportunities in the long term.

The budget allocation of Rs. 5 crores made for the project is being misused by vested interests in the Government and outside to push the project, they said.

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