Vizhinjam seaport: State receives crucial nod

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has reportedly cleared the ‘site-specific’ terms of reference (ToR) required for conducting the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the Vizhinjam seaport project."We have not received any official intimation. But we have been given to understand that the MoEF’s Expert Appraisal Committee which met on June 23 has issued a site-specific ToR for the project,’’ Ports Minister K Babu said on Tuesday. Kerala and State Government firm Vizhinjam International Seaport Ltd (VISL) were represented by Ports Secretary and then VISL CEO Manoj Joshi at the meeting in New Delhi.Earlier, the committee had issued a general ‘project-specific’ ToR expressing dissatisfaction with the location for the project selected by the State Government. Then, the committee had asked Kerala to have a re-look at all alternative locations identified for the project. This, in fact, would have delayed the project considerably.With the State expressing protest, Minister of Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh, who visited Thiruvananthapuram recently, had announced that the project would come up at the site selected by the State Government. Now it appears that the MoEF has trashed all the earlier observations made by its own expert committee.Even when issuing the ‘project-specific’ ToR, the committee had observed that it was only doing so in "public interest.’’ Approval of the ‘site-specific’ ToR would enable the State Government to go ahead with the EIA in earnest.Title deeds distributedBabu kept his promise on Tuesday by distributing title deeds to six families who were evicted for constructing a two-km road to the port site.Shobha, ‘Valiyaveetuvilakam’, Mukkola; Dr Shajikutty, ‘Shahana,’ Mukkola; Appu Nadar, ‘Valiyaveetuvilakathu,’ Mulloor; Krishnan Kutty, ‘Valiyavilakathu,’ Mukkola; Madhu, ‘M S Bhavan,’ Mulloor; and Sagar Gonsalvez, ‘Panchavadi’, Mulloor, were given pattayams for five cents of land each as part of a rehabilitation and resettlement package. For the road, 7.45 hectares of land have been acquired. The evicted were also given Rs 2.90 lakh per cent.