Big corporates were usurping wealth belonging to the common man, and governments everywhere were facilitating it, Father Eugene H. Pereira, vicar general of the Latin Catholic Church, has said.
He was speaking at the valedictory of the 24-hour hunger strike organised by the Chellanam-Kochi Janakeeya Vedhi against the worsening sea incursion along the coast between Chellanam and Fort Kochi, which is forcing the coastal population to flee and abandon their land and property.
“The rights of the fishing community and coastal population are being taken from them and surrendered to corporates. This has become a common phenomenon not only in Kerala and across India but globally. Grassroots-level people are paying the price for all big-ticket development projects, while corporates reap the profits. This has been the case whether it involved the Cochin Port Trust (CPT) or the Indian Space Research Organisation,” said Father Pereira.
He said the ruling class was serving corporates, whether in projects like Sagarmala or the proposed Blue Economy. He added that mineral wealth along the coast and in the deep sea was being written off in favour of corporate entities without any environmental impact assessments, with the fishing community bearing the brunt of this. He urged people to act against such perceived injustices by drawing inspiration from the farmers’ protests in Delhi.
He alleged that dredging by the CPT in the shipping channel had affected the oceanic current along the coast leading to coastal disintegration. Hence, the CPT was liable to address the issue and that the government should intervene to prompt the CPT to take necessary action, he said.
Thushar Nirmal Sarathy, acting chairperson of the Kochi-Chellanam Janakeeya Vedhi, warned that Kochi would witness hitherto unseen protests if there was no intervention to address sea incursion by January 26. Writer-activist Meena Kandasamy had inaugurated the hunger strike on Friday (November 1).
Published - November 02, 2024 08:09 pm IST
