The Joint Action Committee of Kasarkod Fishermen Associations at Honnavar has given a call to fishermen to boycott the Lok Sabha elections in Uttara Kannada on May 7, accusing the Union government and the Karnataka government of not taking action against a special purpose vehicle (SPV) developing the Honnavar port for allegedly violating coastal regulatory zone (CRZ) norms.
Committee president Rajesh Govind Tandel said the Department of Infrastructure Development, Ports and Inland Water Transport in 2010 allotted the port land on contract to two companies for 30 years for development, operation, and maintenance. Honnavar Port Pvt. Ltd., an SPV, was formed for the purpose.
In over 13 years, Mr. Tandel alleged, the project has not been completed and all the permission that had been taken stand expired. The SPV has failed to renew the permission and work is being done by violating the CRZ norms, he alleged. The works of developing a road connecting the port with the National Highway 66 (Kawar–Mangaluru) will harm the ecology. There are fears that the project will threaten the breeding of eco-sensitive Olive Ridley turtles on the Kasarkod beach. Fishermen have expressed their fears over the port project coming in the way of dry fish business, he said.
Protesting fishermen booked
When anguished fishermen staged a protest against the project a few days ago, cases were booked and protesters arrested. The fishermen are also unhappy over the way the authorities did a survey of buildings coming within the boundary of the Honnavar Port, Mr. Tandel said.
The two governments have failed to hear the concerns of fishermen and stop the project, and hence the call to boycott the polls, Mr. Tandel said.
Port clarifies
However, in a statement, Director of the Department of Ports Captain C. Swamy, said the development of Honnavar port would neither harm the fishing harbour and fishing activities nor cause any impediment to the movement of fishing boats.
The project taken up at a cost of ₹1,000 crore by the two firms is intended to harness the cargo handling capacity of the Honnavar port, which, in turn, will bring more revenue to the State government and improve the quality of living of the locals. The construction of breakwaters in the northern and southern parts of the port area would bring stability to the movement of fishing boats and avoid loss of human lives and damage to fishing boats, he said.
He said, following a report of the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Chennai, that there are no Olive Ridley turtle nesting sites in the project area, the Karnataka High Court in November 2021 rejected a petition seeking cancellation of environment clearance certificate granted by the State-level Environment Impact Assessment Authority of Karnataka. The National Green Tribunal, Southern Bench, in September 2023 disposed of, by setting some conditions, a petition that had expressed concern on the harm to environment by constructing a 4-km-long road connecting the port and NH 66.
Following the order by the NGT, the SPV started black-topping the kuchha road in the port after taking permission of the Karnataka State Management Authority, Capt. Swamy said.
