First ship to call at Vizhinjam as scheduled: Devarkovil

Though the work on the Vizhinjam International Seaport has been disrupted due to various reasons, including a strike by the fishermen spearheaded by the Thiruvananthapuram Archdiocese of the Catholic Church (Latin rite), the first ship will call at the Vizhinjam port as scheduled, Ports Minister Ahammad Devarkovil has said.

The Minister was speaking to the media after a review meeting in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday.

In the case of the loss suffered by the contractor company due to the strike, an appropriate decision would be taken after discussing it with the Chief Minister and the Law and Finance departments. Most of the demands raised by the protesters had been sympathetically considered and implemented by the government. The government was ready to negotiate with anyone, including the protesters, if any further steps were required, said Mr. Devarkovil.

The State government had a sympathetic approach towards the needs of the fishermen community and it was against this backdrop that a Cabinet subcommittee was appointed to negotiate with the protesters. The committee had held several rounds of discussions with the protesters regarding various demands and arrived at a consensus on most of them. Since the Kerala High Court had intervened in this matter, the State government was trying to resolve the problems by mutual consent as per the High Court directive, Mr. Devarkovil said.

The contracting company had agreed to supply additional workers and equipment to make up for lost man-days. It had been agreed in-principle to allocate the Central government’s share of the Viability Gap Fund (VGA) to the port developer. The Port department had been instructed to expedite further steps to pay the share of the State government, the Minister said.

Jobs to local residents

In the meeting, the contracting company agreed to take steps to initiate projects that would provide employment to local residents. The meeting also decided to complete the construction of the road connecting the national highway with the port in a time-bound manner. Instructions had been given to the concerned to complete the land acquisition at the earliest. The Port Secretary would hold discussions with the National Highways officials to reach an agreement on the design.

Since the Central government had taken a decision to limit the use of kerosene as fuel in fishing vessels as much as possible, the State government had decided to provide financial assistance to fishermen to switch to non-kerosene fuels, said Mr. Devarkovil.