Protests will not end until project is called off: Church

Thiruvananthapuram: The Latin archdiocese has come out strongly against chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s comments on the strike against the Vizhinjam port project. Meanwhile, the talks the cabinet sub-committee had with the representatives of the fishing community and the political parties turned inconclusive.
Fr Theodacious D’Cruz of the Latin archdiocese, while ridiculing the claims made by the chief minister in the assembly, made it clear that the agitation by the fishermen will not end until the port construction is stopped.
“Whatever the chief minister has said in the assembly is not acceptable for us. We think that the chief minister knows about the reality of erosion happening in the cosatal region of the district. The fishing community will not allow any kind of construction to continue in the Vizhinajm port until the government decides to stop the construction,” he said.
The chief minister has misled the assembly by making false claims on the things the government has done for the fishing community. “He has, in fact, insulted the fishing community of the district,” Fr D’Cruz said.
He also termed “baseless” the claims that the port would provide employment for many in the region. He said only container operators will be getting job once the port is commissioned and it is going to benefit only less then 500 people.
Meanwhile, the meeting convened by the cabinet sub-committee with the representatives of the agitating Latin archdiocese and the political parties did not find any consensus on ending the agitation.
However, all the political parties accepted the fact that the agitation in the port should not lead to any kind of law-and-order issue. Hence, it has been decided to take strict measures to ensure law and order in the region.
The Latin archdiocese representatives said the discussions are a farce exercise and the government has nothing concrete to assure to end the strike.