Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Plea to address concerns of Vizhinjam residents

Thiruvananthapuram: The Janakiya Prathirodha Samithi spearheading the protest against the notification on land acquisition for the Vizhinjam seaport project has accused the State government of hoodwinking the people.

Addressing presspersons here, samithi leaders Jagadish Kovalam and G.P. Sreekumar said the government was adamant on displacing hundreds of families in the Vizhinjam, Venganoor, Kottukal, Tirupuram and Kanhirankulam villages to acquire large tracts of land for industrial development in the project area.

“The government has shown no signs of relenting, despite three months of protests by the local people. As many as 15,000 families are residing in the 1,088 hectares earmarked for acquisition. Most of them depend on farming, trade and dairy farming. By displacing these people, the government will deprive them of their means of livelihood,” they said.

Samithi leaders said the people in the area were being put to many hardships. “We cannot sell or mortgage our land or repair our houses. By allowing the agitation to drag on, the government is virtually torpedoing the project,” they said.

Urging the government to take the local people into confidence and come up with a transparent land acquisition policy, Mr. Jagadish Kovalam said the high-power committee headed by the Chief Secretary, set up to review the land acquisition move, had failed to make a move even after a month. The samithi threatened to undertake a ‘fast unto death’ if the government did not withdraw the notification soon.

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