Francis Xavier, 55, has been sleeping on sand at the seashore in Valiyathura, in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram district, for the last one year after his house collapsed due to sea erosion. “The government has put up my family, among others, in a godown,” he said. “We have been allotted a metal sheet enclosure.”

That enclosure, he said on Tuesday, has space only to put up two mattresses. “My wife and four daughters sleep there at night. I sleep outside,’’ he said.

According to local residents, houses of 42 families of Valiyathura coast, near Vizhinjam, have been destroyed by sea erosion since construction of Vizhinjam International Seaport Limited (VISL) began in 2015.

On Tuesday, the eighth day since fisherfolk from the area began an agitation against the Rs 7,500-crore VISL project, Xavier was one of hundreds of protesters at the sit-in outside VISL’s main gate. As part of a relay agitation, Tuesday was the turn of protesters from Valiyathura, about a half-hour drive away from the under-construction port, being developed by Adani Group.

VISL had suspended work since the protests began. At the construction site, as a result, huge cranes lay silent, the VISL office remained closed, the site office containers stood empty. And long rows of trucks, which ferried boulders, stood idle.

The silence was broken by the fisherfolk — men and women, young and old — some of whom shouted slogans against Adani. “Go back,” they said. “We will not surrender our coasts to you.”

Flags of Kerala Latin Catholic Association, which is lending support to the protest, flutter at the project site. With mountains of boulders, ferried from far away, and acropods, concrete blocks used to dissipate waves on breakwaters and coastal structures, forming the background, the fishermen and women discussed Adani Group, their coast, and the port project.

A senior official of VISL said it is up to the government to settle the issue. “We have suspended work in the wake of the agitation and discussions should be between the government and protesting fishermen,” the official said.

Protesters, however, said there is nothing to discuss.

Valiyathura resident Kevin, 25, who had come to join the day’s protest with his wife, their one-year-old boy and parents, said: “We see our houses on the coast falling apart in huge waves. Several relatives of mine are homeless, as the sea has taken away their homes. Sea erosion is escalating — we have never faced this before.”

“Politicians,” he said, “take fisherfolk to be uneducated; they believe we will live under any circumstances. But we have abandoned fishing to join the agitation.”

The protests are expected to go on till August 31.

The Latin Catholic Church, under the archdiocese of Thiruvananthapuram, which is leading the agitation, had stated that nearly 500 houses were destroyed in high tides, which, according to them, were a fallout of the port construction.

At the gate of VISL, Catholic priests from far-flung areas are trooping in to express solidarity. A group of priests said they had come from the high ranges of Idukki to “support the children of the sea”.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s announcement in the Assembly that construction work will not be suspended to study its impact, as demanded by the fishermen, has sparked fresh protests. Calling it a planned agitation, Vijayan also said it has participation of external elements, and not just local fishermen.

Hitting back at the government, action committee convener, Vicar-General Fr Eugine H Pereira, said those “on the payroll of Adani” cannot understand the pain of fishermen deprived of livelihood. “When we handed over our land for ISRO, we were promised it would bring development, uplift our lives…but nothing came of it,” he said. “We cannot go by mere promises.”

Seven years into construction, Pereira said, the entire coastal belt of Thiruvananthapuram is facing the consequences: “We have lost five fishermen due to high waves at Vizhinjam fishing harbour. There have been incidents of fishing vessels colliding in high waves. Whatever the CM says, we are not ready to back out from the agitation. It is a matter of survival for us.”

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Shaju PhilipShaju Philip covers Kerala for The Indian Express... read more