Kerala fishermen set boat on fire as protests against Adani port enter 100th day

As the protests against the Vizhinjam seaport project in Thiruvananthapuram entered the 100th day, potesting fishermen on Thursday, October 27, intensified their agitation by setting a fishing boat on fire and throwing police barricades into the sea. Hundreds of fisherfolk, including women, reached the area via road and sea and broke open the lock of the gate of the project site, raising slogans.

Besides those from the coastal villages, a large number of fishermen arrived in boats from nearby places including Muthalapozhi under the aegis of the Latin Archdiocese to stage protests. Showing the burning boat, one of the protesters told reporters that they had no other way to make the authorities understand their plight. "If there is no coast, we have no life. We are setting fire to our means of livelihood. If the port comes into being, we will lose our coast forever," he said.

Another fisherman pointed to the lack of availability of kerosene subsidy, a long pending demand of local fisherfolk, and demanded that it be provided on the lines of neighbouring Tamil Nadu. In the wake of reports of the fishermen's plan to intensify their protests, police security was beefed up at the site of the under construction port and its surroundings.

A large number of people have been staging protests outside the main entrance of the multi-purpose seaport — being developed by Adani Ports — at nearby Mulloor for a few months. They were pressing for their seven-point charter of demands that include stopping the construction work and to conduct a coastal impact study in connection with the multi-crore project. The protesters have been alleging that the unscientific construction of groynes, the artificial sea walls as part of the upcoming Vizhinjam port, was one of the reasons for the increasing coastal erosion.