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The Kerala Assembly witnessed heated debate about the Adani Group, its upcoming port at Vizhinjam and the Muthalapozhi fishing harbour to its north on July 2, during its ongoing session.
The debate was started by M Vincent, member of the Legislative Assembly from Kovalam. He highlighted the plight of fishers at Muthalapozhi.
In the last eight years, 73 people have died in Muthalapozhi. People there claim that their fortunes took a turn for the worse after the construction of the Vizhinjam port and transhipment terminal began in 2016. Locals call the area ‘Kerala’s mouth of death’.
The Muthalapozhi fishing harbor is located at the spot where the Vamanapuram river meets the Arabian Sea in the southern part of Kerala.
During evenings, many tourists gather on the Muthalapozhi bridge to enjoy the panoramic views of the harbour. This location is just 26 km from state capital, Thiruvananthapuram, and 39 km from Vizhinjam.
However, the beautiful locale conceals its lethality. When large-scale fishing occurs in the early mornings and late evenings, engine-powered fishing boats returning from the sea often encounter accidents as they reach the harbour mouth.
According to local fisheries workers, the accidents began in 2002. That is when two parallel breakwaters were built for the fishing harbour.
A ‘breakwater’ is a wall-like structure made of rocks and tetrapods laid perpendicular to the shore and deep into the sea to prevent erosion.
Every monsoon, sea waves surge into the unscientifically constructed channel from the west, while an equally strong river water drift pushes back from the east.
The reason for this could be the accumulation of sand from the river and the sea beneath the water in the channel area. It creates underwater mounds, leading to waves colliding and rising with deadly force from both directions.
The rocky edges of the breakwaters strike boats, causing them to crash and collapse.
As recently as July 8, there was a providential escape for 21 fishermen when their boat capsized after hitting the breakwaters, and they all fell into the sea.
The only way to ensure the safety of the channel is to remove the accumulated sand periodically. This responsibility now lies with Adani Vizhinjam Port Private Limited (AVPPL), which is undertaking the Vizhijam port construction.
Adani was obliged to clear the accumulated sand as part of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) it signed with Kerala’s harbour engineering department on April 10, 2018.
The agreement primarily granted Adani Ports permission to dismantle the northern portion of the southern breakwater of Muthalapozhi harbour to construct a loadout facility.
This facility was intended to store the rocks that the company transported in barges from various places in Kerala and Tamil Nadu to construct the breakwater of the Vizhinjam Port.
In return, the government requested continuous dredging of the Muthalapozhi channel and maintaining its depth at 5 metres to ensure fishing boats do not scrape against sand or rock. Adani Ports also agreed to periodically maintain the harbour’s two breakwaters.
Adani Ports has failed to uphold its end of the agreement over the past four years, and now claims it no longer needs the Muthalapozhi facility to transport stones as the construction of the breakwater in Vizhinjam is nearly complete.
Despite this, the MoU remains in effect, and the Kerala government is urging Adani to fulfil its commitment, considering the significant concessions and resources the state has provided for the construction of the massive transhipment terminal.
In response to the public outrage over the situation in Muthalapozhi, the government has announced plans to conduct dredging and then bill Adani for the expenses.
However, the government needs more infrastructure, machinery, and expertise for regular dredging, and it is still being determined whether Adani will honour the bills and reimburse the expenses.
On its part, Adani has blamed Cyclone Tauktae and the Kerala government for the dredging work having not taken place in the last four years.
Its officials say Cyclone Tauktae in May 2021 damaged the breakwater in Muthalapozhi, resulting in boulders falling near the channel area
Unofficially, Adani company officials in Vizhinjam argue that the upkeep of the breakwater is the state government’s responsibility. But they refuse to discuss the MoU.
Marine scientists, however, told this reporter that dredging was not needed to solve matters. They instead recommend ‘sand bypassing’, a continuous process to pump accumulated sand from a specific location.
“You don’t have to dredge the channel. Sand bypassing prevents sand accumulation in the channel. This has to be done continuously,” A J Vijayan, a well-known ocean scientist, told DTE.
The fishers of Muthalapozhi, already angry over the deaths, were further enraged when the state government recently advised them not to fish in the sea during the monsoon months from the Muthalapozhy harbour, as its mouth is risky.
Ever since, the region has witnessed frequent agitations, saying the lurking danger was not the creation of the fishing community.
Saji Cherian, Kerala’s fisheries minister, told the assembly on July 2 that sand accumulation in the Muthalapozhi harbour’s mouth and navigation channel had caused fisher deaths.
He agreed that Adani Ports is responsible for removing the sand and maintaining the depth of the navigation channel at five metres.
The minister claimed that the Kerala government had taken strong measures to maintain the depth of the navigation channel. He said the Adani Group was told in no uncertain terms that the depth should be maintained.
“During our last meeting, Adani Ports said it was difficult to bring dredging machines to the harbour because of the strong waves,” Cherian said.
“This is why sand is now removed using three long-boom and two short-boom excavators,” he said.
Later, provoking the minister, Vincent said dredging was now done using “JCB machines”, and that too at a minimum level.
Cherian said the government had given the Adani Group another extension because of the bad weather.
“The government has still not decided whether to give more extensions or walk out of the agreement (with Adani) and carry out the dredging ourselves,” the minister said.
Cherian’s speech also had more rhetoric. “The government has the strength and courage to make Adani Ports do what they are obliged to do,” he said. “You should understand that we are not on Adani’s payroll,” he added.
However, sources in the government confirmed that four meetings between cabinet representatives and the Adani group had been held since January this year, and the state failed to get any concrete assurance on resolving the issue at Muthalapozhi.
As the much-anticipated Vizhinjam project’s first phase nears completion, the Muthalapozhi fishing harbour officially declared completed in 2020, is now associated with recurring deaths, corporate irresponsibility, and official negligence.