Asia Times: Giant port project drowning in waves of protest


	June 9, 2000	atimes.com

India/Pakistan

Giant port project drowning in waves of protest
By Rosa Basanti

UMBERGAON, India - This small habitation along the picturesque sea front on India's west coast off the Arabian Sea had never seen such a large gathering of people.

Thousands of people, most of them fisherfolk and peasants from surrounding areas, converged on Umbergaon in western coastal Gujarat state early this week to protest the state government's decision to build a deep sea port nearby, one that they fear will snatch away their livelihood and throw them out of their homes.

''Stop the Maroli port project,'' they chanted in unison at the protest rally that was timed with World Environment Day on Monday. The popular campaign against the upcoming port in the nearby coastal hamlet of Maroli, was backed by activist groups across the world who observed the day as World Umbergaon Day.

The protestors declared they would ''destroy'' the port if it is built. The rally wound its way through Umbergaon before ending in a public meeting on the seafront. Speakers threatened to make more aggressive protests in the future, like blocking the movement of trains in the area, if the project is not abandoned.

The year-old protest campaign has found a new confidence with influential local politicians backing them and a giant American construction company backing off from the project.

Scheduled to be ready by the year 2004, Maroli port would be one of 10 ports planned by the Gujarat state government. Six of these, among them India's first private port, are to be located in the Gulf of Kutch. However, locals fear that once big ships start berthing, it would mean an end to fishing that sustains thousands of people here.

Many agree with the locals. These include a member of Indian Parliament and former member of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who quit the BJP over this issue. Devjibhai Tandel, who was present at Monday's protest, said he quit because he himself belongs to a fisherfolk community.

The protestors were also encouraged by the presence of former top Indian Army officers and retired senior bureaucrats. Some felt that this could have been a reason why authorities backed off from their earlier announced decision not to permit the rally to be held.

But the biggest morale booster for the anti-port campaign has come from an unexpected quarter. The project was awarded in June 1998 to a joint venture between Indian company Natelco and US-based Unocal. However, Unocal announced last week that it was no longer interested. The American company's pullout is said to be linked to the death of a former Indian army official, who was a leading figure of the anti-port agitation, allegedly due to injuries while in police custody.

Fifty seven-year-old Pratap Save was arrested while leading a late April protest by activists of the Kinara Bachao Sangharsh Samiti (save the coast agitation front) which is campaigning against the port project. A memorial in honor of Save was set up in the Umbergaon market-place before the start of Monday's rally. ''We will never allow the port. Save's martyrdom will not go in vain,'' said a woman who had come from a neighboring fishing village.

Unocal's exit became a slogan at the rally. ''One more push is all that is needed to get rid of the whole project,'' protestors shouted and sang in unison at a meeting held on the same spot on the beach where Save and his colleagues had clashed with the police. The rally was held in defiance of local authorities and the police who had warned against the protest being held. According to the activists, policemen had gone to all the villages around here to ask the people to stay away from the rally.

In recent weeks, anti-port campaign supporters were picked up by the police who have filed some 2,000 complaints against them, activists say. Save was arrested, his supporters say, by the police from his home following a crackdown on a peaceful protest by the villagers against the entry of a pre-construction survey team in the area. The surveyors were escorted by police.

''Stop all further survey and immediately drop plans to build Maroli Port,'' said a statement in the local language that was read out at Monday's rally.

''How can they build a port and fishing harbor in a place where the people don't want it?'' ask villagers, who point out that they have no confidence in their government. They complain that the government never informed them about a decision that affects their daily lives.

An independent inquiry into the port project by the Indian People's Tribunal on Environment and Human Rights headed by a former judge of the High Court of adjoining Maharashtra state found that the project has no supporters among locals.

''You killed a man who was a military officer leading a non-violent struggle. If you build the port against our will, we consider that an act of violence and we will destroy the port. We leave you to decide who is violent,'' thundered Tomas Kocherry, famed Christian priest-turned-activist of the World Fishworkers Forum and National Fishworkers Forum.

(Inter Press Service)

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