About 5,000 Kutch fishermen to protest against Adani project

Bhuj (Gujarat), April 17 (IANS) About 5,000 fishermen from the Kutch region will gather near the Adani group's special economic zone (SEZ) at Mundhra port Saturday to oppose the company's proposed waterfront development project.

The fishermen will demand scrapping of the project that involves construction of facilities to berth 50 large ships at a time, as well as setting up of a desalination plant.

Their argument: the ships will affect their livelihood.

'We are opposing the project as the entry of large ships would directly affect the livelihood of small fishermen,' said Ismail Majhlia, convenor of the umbrella body of the protestors.

'It will destroy about 16 natural fishing harbours near the Mundhra port,' Majhlia told IANS.

The project, promoted by Mundhra port and Special Economic Zone Ltd that belongs to the Adani Group, is expected to be spread over 3,200 hectares in Kutch.

According to Majhlia, fishing is carried out in 405 km of coastal waters in the region, the bulk of it near the Mundhra port. Around 10,000 tonnes of fish is caught annually.

He said the fishermen have been opposing the project for several months. 'But no action had been taken by either the state or the central government.'

Adani group officials declined to comment on the issue.