New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to lay the foundation of the Vadhavan Port in Dahanu taluka of Palghar district on Friday. Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal, on Thursday reviewed the preparations at Vadhavan, ahead of the PM’s visit.
However, ahead of PM’s visit, local fishermen are protesting against the launch of the port. They are expressing their protest by tying black balloons on their boats.
What is the Vadhavan Port project?
Set to be developed in two phases, the Vadhavan Port will have a cumulative capacity to handle 298 million metric tons (MMT) of cargo annually, including approximately 23.2 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) of containers. The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) and the Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB) signed a memorandum of understanding on June 5, 2015, for the development of Vadhavan Port in Dahanu taluka.
The Vadhvan Port project is worth Rs 76,200 crore and it will be undertaken by Vadhavan Port Project Limited (VPPL). It will be a modern, all-weather deep-water port, the biggest in the country. It is aimed at constructing a state-of-the-art container port that will take India’s maritime trade to dizzying heights.
The port will have a natural draft of 20 metres, which will allow it to handle the largest ships in the world and be a significant trade corridor between India, West Asia and Europe. It will be one of the top 10 ports of the world, according to a union government official.
The first phase of the project will be completed by 2029, and the second and final phase is set to be over by 2039.
Why are local fishermen against it?
Local fishermen, environmentalists, and farmers are opposing the project for various reasons. They contend that the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests had categorised Dahanu an ecologically fragile area and all environmentally-damaging industries are not supposed to be set up in the zone.
The construction of the port has faced opposition since 1997 when it was first proposed by the UPA government.
The villagers and fishing community have been protesting against the project by joining hands under the Vadhavan Bandar Virodhi Sangharsh Samiti (VBVSS). According to them, it would be catastrophic to the environment and their livelihoods.
Narayan Patil from the VBVSS was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times that the project will be extremely damaging to the fishing industry, farming and environment. “The port will be located 6.5 km in the sea. They will reclaim 4,000 acres of land. It will affect water currents, the rains and the breeding of fish. To protect the port, they will also construct a breakwater,’’ he pointed out. Two petitions were filed by the VBVSS in the Supreme Court to highlight the detrimental impact of the construction of the port.