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P&O submits blueprint for Vadhavan port project; locals up in arms

P&O of Australia has submitted its final blueprint for the Vadhavan port project to the Maharashtra State Maritime Board while the state government still awaits clearance from various central government ministries.

The project, to be built on a creek near Dahanu, 140 kilometres north of Bombay, is in the eye of a storm with the local people fiercely opposing it

The state government had sold the project during the Advantage Maharashtra seminar held at the beginning of the year to attract foreign investment. As per the government's plan, it will be the biggest port in Asia.

Local villagers are agitating against the project, fearing harm to the extremely green belt. Even after the state government declared the Dahanu region as environmental sensitive (which means tree felling will be limited), the people are unwilling to compromise.

Shankhodar, the place where the port is scheduled to come up, is protected from the Arabian Sea due to the alignment of big boulders. Local villagers believe in the area believe that Lord Ram cremated his father Dasharath at this place. Locals from the surrounding villages of Chinchani, Mahim and 12 others are opposed to this project.

P&O had appointed a non-governmental organisation Vasundhara to assess the social and financial obstacles caused to people because of the project. While the report submitted the company is yet to be made public, BBC acquired a copy of the same and released the findings when broadcasting a documentary on the project.

According to the documentary, a survey conducted by Vasundhara showed a massive 70 per cent of the people were against the project against a measly 3.4 per cent favouring it. As many as 93.2 percent of the respondents stated that they received information about the project from government agencies and P&O, and considered both sources biased. The report states that the villagers earned their livelihood from the surrounding forests and considered the area economically self-sufficient. They saw little need for the project, states the report.

Chief Minister Manohar Joshi had claimed that the project would create 2000 jobs. Countering his claim, the local villages point out that the 500 to 600 fishing bats operating in the Dahanu region provides employment to about 4,500 people, with each boat needing seven to eight persons. The villagers declare that they are unwilling to allow a project which will create only 2000 jobs and affect the livelihood of the rest.

Incidentally, the representatives of the area, Bhraratiya Janata Party member of Parliament Govind Vanga and Congress legislator Shankar Nam reportedly have strong reservations about the project and have voiced their opposition in private.

The local people also fear that the project will completely disrupt their sociol lifestyle.

Compiled and translated from the Marathi media by Prasanna Zore