Kerala HC orders police protection for Adani's Vizhinjam port project

The Kerala High Court on Thursday directed the state government to provide police protection to Adani Ports’ under construction Vizhinjam port project which is facing protests.

The court also directed the protestors should not trespass into the port premises and that they should agitate peacefully outside it.

The construction work should not be obstructed, the court ordered.

The order came on a plea moved by Adani Ports, which is constructing the Vizhinjam port in Thiruvananthapuram, seeking protection from protesters and alleging that the police and the government were not taking any action in this regard.

A large number of coastal people have been staging strong protest outside the main entrance of the multi-purpose seaport, located at nearby Mulloor in Thiruvananthapuram, since August 16 pressing their seven-point charter of demands including stopping the construction work and to conduct a coastal impact study in connection with the multi-crore project.

The protesters have been alleging that the unscientific construction of groynes, the artificial sea walls known as ”pulimutt’ in local parlance, as part of the upcoming Vizhinjam port was one of the reasons for the increasing coastal erosion in the district.