As LDF plans ‘grand reception’ for Vizhinjam port’s 1st ship, a divided Church sounds a discordant note

However, Congress leaders, including the Leader of the Opposition, VD Satheesan and local MP Shashi Tharoor, will attend the event and demand that the port be named after the late former chief minister Oommen Chandy, who envisioned it.

Also read: Chinese ship, 1st to dock at Vizhinjam, reaches the port

Transfer of shipping body head

Meanwhile, IAS officer Adeela Abdulla was relieved of her position as managing director of the Vizhinjam International Transhipment Container Terminal Company on Friday, 13 October, two days before the first ship’s formal arrival at the port.

Government sources claimed the move was part of routine transfers and redeployment of middle-level civil service officers. Over a dozen such officials have been transferred along with Abdulla.

However, Port Department sources South First reached out to said Abdulla had differences with Minister Devarkovil over planning a reception for a ship that had already arrived two days ago.

Pathanamthitta district collector Divya Iyer has been transferred and appointed in her stead.

The government is organising the ship’s welcome on a grand scale to project it as a significant accomplishment of the first half of the Vijayan government’s term.

Related: Why is it business as usual for Adani Group in Left-ruled Kerala?

Minister’s vanity behind event?

Boats being taken to the state secretariat as part of the protest against the Vizhinjam port being constructed by the Adani group. A 2022 file picture(South First)

The administration completes half of its term in November, following which there will be a Cabinet change: Ahammad Devarkovil (an Indian National League nominee) will hand over the ports ministry to Ramachandran Kadannappalli of the Congress(S).

Government sources confirmed that the event is being hosted at the request of Devarkovil, who sees the event as a way to highlight his achievement of seeing the project through.

Interestingly, the Chinese ship ‘Zhen Hua 15’ arrived in Vizhinjam on Thursday, 9 October, and port officials greeted it with a traditional water salute. The ship was towed to near port the same afternoon.

Because the Chinese crew of the ship were not permitted to land on Indian shores, port officials visited the ship and offered gifts to those on board.

The ship left Shanghai on 31 August and docked at Mundra port in Gujarat before arriving in Vizhinjam. Due to unfavourable weather, the ship’s arrival was delayed by at least 10 days.

Around 15 personnel of Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery Company Limited (ZMPC), the crane manufacturer, were on board the ship.

However, Adani port authorities said the company staff from its Mumbai office would unload the cranes.

“The laws of the respective countries govern disembarkations of international crew members and passengers, and thus, the crew would not be permitted to attend the reception unless the Union government accords special permission,” a port official said.

”There are employees on hand to unload the cranes. However, we must get authorisation for the Chinese employees to install them in Vizhinjam. The port secretary has written to the Union government seeking approval,” a state ports officer stated.

Also Read: Kerala has spent ₹100 crore on Vizhinjam rehabilitation: Minister

Church questions logic behind reception

The Latin Catholic Church has questioned the logic of planning a reception for a ship that has already docked and received a water salute.

Speaking to the South First, Latin Catholic Church vicar general Fr Eugene Pereira said that the project’s construction works are far behind schedule, and the reception extravaganza is being organised to cover up the fact that even the first phase of the controversial project has not yet been completed.

According to Pereira, the grand reception on the ship is a deception.

Devarkovil’s office informed South First that the first phase would not be completed until May 2024.
As per the earlier schedule, the first phase was supposed to be completed by December 2019.

First Person: Kerala coastal highway sets fisher folk on a road to nowhere

Project delay under Adani Ports

Adani Ports Limited, implementing the project in collaboration with the Union and state governments, has cited 16 reasons for the delay in construction works, including the Okhi cyclone of 2017, massive floods in 2018, and the Covid pandemic, as well as a massive strike by the coastal community last year.

Only a 270-metre stretch of the 800-metre-long berth has been built so far.

Priests protest against Vizhinjam port in 2022

According to the original agreement, Adani was obliged to compensate the state government for any development delays.

On the other hand, the state government has increased the company’s build-operate-transfer spans from 40 to 50 years.

The corporation is now asking for 10 more years of operational rights to make sufficient profits.

The construction began in 2015, and the government has given the firm approximately 500 acres of prime property.

The Latin Church also accuses the state government and the firm of abandoning their initial promise to address the survival concerns of fish workers in the Muthalapozhi fishing port region.

The Church is particularly concerned about the government’s inability to carry out the promised environmental impact analysis of the project. The project will reportedly cause large-scale sea erosion in places to its north.

Opposition trolls slam CPI(M)

Eroding shoreline north of Vizhinjam (South First)

Meanwhile,  trolls, presumably those close to the Opposition Congress have started to mock the reception extravaganza on social media platforms.

They are slamming the CPI(M), recalling that the party had vehemently opposed the project in the beginning. The party called it “loot” at that time, and claimed it would ruin the state’s fishing sector.

The trolls are asking why the government is claiming such a controversial project has progressed due to the vision of the Pinarayi Vijayan government.

When the Oommen Chandy regime pushed the project, Vijayan had alleged that it involved corruption worth ₹6,000 crore.

Critics are also circulating visuals of a  statement by Chandy on the floor of the Assembly in which he took a firm stand in support of the project and stated his willingness to clear all misconceptions about its environmental impact. Those visuals are now viral, with hashtags terming Chandy as the father of the project.

Chandy’s Congress-led UDF government (2011-2016) approved the project, and construction on the port commenced at the end of Chandy’s tenure.

After the Vijayan government took office, numerous issues made it impossible to keep up the construction pace maintained during the Chandy regime.

Gautam Adani, the port’s founder, had announced on 5 December, 2015, that the first ship would berth there on 1 September, 2018. That meant completing the project at a record pace of fewer than 1,000 days. However, the group could not meet the deadline.

Vizhinjam parish creates a flutter

Meanwhile, confusion prevails over the reported statement of the vicar of the Latin Catholic Parish in Vizhinjam that he and his parish members would take part in the reception, ignoring the decision of the church authorities to boycott the event.

A section of media has quoted the vicar saying he took an independent decision opposed to the view of higher-ups after Fisheries Minister Saji Cheriyan gave some assurances about better compensation to the fishers who lost their land and livelihood to the project.

The minister reportedly assured ₹4.2 lakh each to 53 catamaran fishers of the locality.

But when South First contacted the vicar, he said he was beginning a discussion on the offer from the minister with fellow parishioners and the Church authorities.

He said further consultations are needed to say whether the parish members would attend the reception.