The Vizhinjam Mother Port Action Council (V-mac) recently submitted evidence before the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) and the Environmental Impact Assessment Committee, countering the allegations against the port project.
V-mac secretary Wilfred Kulas said that a memorandum in this regard was submitted to Committee chairman Anil Razdan and member-secretary Lalith Kapur.
V-mac representatives said that those campaigning against the project had alleged that 125 lakh tonnes of sand would wash into the Vizhinjam site during the monsoon season, making it unviable for the project.
Another allegation was that the port activities would come to a standstill for around six months during which wind speed in the area would be 17 metres per second.
V-mac representatives submitted evidence to the Committee that the maximum wind speed in Thiruvananthapuram was around 4 metres per second.
They also said the allegation that the ships arriving in the port would damage the wadge bank, a 3,000 sq km fish breeding area, was baseless. V-mac representatives said that around two lakh vessels sailed over the wadge bank every year even when the port has not been constructed.
This fact was endorsed by Navy officials.
Theizhinjam Mother Port Action Council told the Committee that the baseless allegations against the project were raised by the owners of illegal resorts in Vizhinjam.
V-mac also submitted a copy of the Coastal Zone Management Authority report which had found that 29 of the 31 resorts in the area were functioning in violation of the Coastal Regulation Zone norms.
Thiruvananthapuram Development Forum president Ramkumar Rajan and V-mac president Elias John attended the consultations with the MoEF officials and the Committee members.
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