Thiruvananthapuram: This time, the government seems to be serious about fulfilling all promises given to local fishermen who were agitating at Vizhinjam International Seaport Limited project site in a timebound manner.
It has been two weeks since the fishermen called off their agitation temporarily with a warning that they will relaunch the agitation after 30 days if they felt that government was delaying the implementation of rehabilitation package again. Even though the government was not able to issue any order related to rehabilitation package during this period, they have managed to win the trust of the agitators in the meantime by initiating works of the orders issued in the previous month.
Speaking to TOI, Father Michael Thomas, the vicar of Our Lady of Good Voyage Church, Kottapuram, who led the fishermen’s agitation, said that they were satisfied of the efforts being taken by the government.
“A few days ago, the special monitoring committee constituted by the government to oversee the pace of works held a meeting with us here. Officials concerned of all departments related to addressing our grievances were also there and they all appeared to be committed to carrying out the works without any more delay,’’ the vicar said. He added that though they are still concerned about a few of their grievances that still remain unaddressed, they hope that those will be addressed in the next meetings of the committee.
The committee will be meeting regularly at an interval of 10 days to monitor the progress of the rehabilitation works.
On Friday, a team of officials of minor Irrigation department visited Kottapuram as part of site inspection before commencing the renovation of Gangayar drain that pass through the port site. The renovation of Gangayar drain was one of the 18 grievances the agitators listed out before the government. The harbour engineering department officials too have initiated steps to secure the breakwater, which according to fishermen, is posing danger to the fishing boats as its boulders are loose.