KOZHIKODE: India’s Kerala state will proceed “no matter what” with a $900 million port project and is open to deploying federal police if needed to protect it from protesters blocking construction, a government minister said on Saturday.

The local fishing community, led by Catholic priests, has blocked construction of Vizhinjam port by Adani Group for almost four months, erecting a makeshift shelter at the port’s entrance. The protesters say the huge project causes coastal erosion that has undermined their livelihoods, calling for a complete halt on the construction.

Adani Group, led by Asia’s richest man Gautam Adani, and the Kerala government, which is shouldering two-thirds of the project cost with the federal government, have denied such accusations. Clashes between police and protesters last weekend injured more than 100 people, including 64 police.

Although the protesters have refused to budge, Kerala’s minister of ports, Ahammed Devarkovil, said the government of the southern state was hopeful of resolving the deadlock but there was no chance it would halt construction.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2022