THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The protest against the Vizhinjam International Transhipment Deepwater Multipurpose Seaport intensified on Monday even as the government departments concerned held discussions to offer a rehabilitation package. The protesters, who have been agitating at the main gate at Mullur, breached the barricades erected by the police and entered the project site.
Meanwhile, fishermen from the nearby Poonthura arrived on boats to surround the area amid protests. They carried flags of the church and hoisted it atop the tower at the site. The protest that began on August 16 enters the eighth day on Tuesday. The church has decided to go ahead with the strike even when a cabinet sub-committee -- that met on Monday -- decided to allocate 10 acres of land at Muttathara near the coast for rehabilitation. The animal husbandry department will provide eight acres and the corporation will cede two acres for the housing project involving flats for 3,000 families. The 335 families living in rehabilitation camps will be given priority in the project, according to the sub-committee decision.
The animal husbandry department will be compensated with land under the prisons department.
The meeting was attended by Local Self-government Minister M V Govindan, Transport Minister Antony Raju, Ports Minister Ahamed Devarkovil, Fisheries Minister V Abdurahiman, Animal Husbandry Minister J Chinchurani and Thiruvananthapuram Mayor Arya Rajendran. The sub-committee will meet on Tuesday and convene again after the secretaries of the departments concerned submit reports.
The Latin Church welcomed the decisions. But they wanted Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to be involved in the process soon. Auxiliary Bishop of Latin Catholic Church R Christudas said the coastal people wanted action and not just promises. There were cabinet sub-committees in the past and their decisions did not reach anywhere, he said.
The representatives of the church held discussions with the transport and fisheries ministers on August 19. But they decided to continue the stir as the government did not offer any concrete solutions to most of their demands. The protesters had demanded the government stop the port construction and study its ecological impact by involving coastal people. They also wanted fair compensation and rehabilitation for loss of property and houses, compensation for fishermen who lost work days due to adverse weather warnings, smooth navigation at the Muthalapozhi harbour, subsidised kerosene as done in Tamil Nadu, rent-free accommodation for people who lost houses and rehabilitation for families affected by sea erosion.