Adani Port: Violent protests over billionaire’s Kerala project

KATHMANDU: Around 36 police officers were injured and a police station was attacked in the southern Indian state of Kerala after protests against the construction of the country’s largest port escalated into violence.

Several protesters were also injured, and some police vehicles were damaged.

The port is being built by Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd, which is owned by Asia’s richest man, Gautam Adani.

For about three months, hundreds of people from the local fishing community – mostly Christians – had been protesting against the $900m (£744m) project, alleging the construction was causing coastal erosion and destroying their livelihoods. Many of them live in temporary shelters in the area.

The company has denied this, saying the project is in compliance with environmental laws and that sea erosion is occurring due to climate change.

Last week, the Kerala high court had said that the protesters must comply with its earlier order for “unhindered ingress and egress” to the project site.

But over the weekend, hundreds of protesters blocked the company’s construction vehicles from entering the port, prompting the arrest of many of them.

On Sunday night, protesters stormed a local police station demanding their release, leading to clashes with the police.

“A mob gathered at the police station in the evening and demanded the release of a few persons who were arrested in another case,” a senior state police official told reporters, adding that they had deployed around 900 police personnel in the area.

But Eugene H Pereira, a vicar general who was one of the convenors of the protest, blamed the police for provoking the protesters, who he said “were ready to leave the area without creating any trouble”.

“The state government is responsible for the violence. They were doing it to prepare the ground for forcible eviction of the protesters,” he alleged.

A state minister denied this, and accused the protesters of stalling the project even after the government had agreed to meet their demands.

“They want the port project – which is in the advanced stage of construction – to be abandoned entirely. But that’s not going to benefit them at all,” he told the BBC.

After the violence, the Adani Group approached the state’s high court, which on Monday asked the government to file a report.

An Adani official told the BBC on condition of anonymity that the company has suffered damages of around 800m rupees ($9.8m; £8.1m) so far due to the blockade, which has gone on for more than 104 days.

Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd, India’s largest port operator, signed the deal in 2015 to build the port at Vizhinjam in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala’s capital city.

The company operates nine feeder ports across India and Vizhinjam is expected to meet all its transhipment requirements once ready.

It has said that the port once completed, would be “India’s gateway to international transhipment” due to its proximity to international shipping routes.

The port was initially scheduled to open in 2019 but work was delayed after a deadly cyclone hit the state in 2017, and due to a shortage in construction material. It is now set to open in September 2023.

The opposition Congress party, which was in power when the deal was signed, alleged that the current government had “ignored” a rehabilitation package for displaced people which was originally part of the agreement.

“I have visited these shelters and they are living in the most pathetic situation that I have ever seen in my life,” said party leader VD Satheesan.