Latest news with #VizhinjamInternationalSeaport
India Today
6 days ago
- General
- India Today
Pinarayi Vijayam hands over 348 flats to coastal families displaced by port project
In a major step towards rehabilitating families displaced by sea erosion and the Vizhinjam International Seaport project, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has announced the handover of 348 flats under the state's Punargeham housing announcement was made by the Chief Minister through his official X account, where he stated, 'Another promise to our fisherfolk fulfilled.' He said that a total of 332 flats at Muttathara in Thiruvananthapuram and 16 flats at Unnial in Tanur, Malappuram, have been handed over to beneficiaries under the scheme. advertisement'These safe, modern homes ensure a life of dignity for coastal families relocated due to sea erosion and the Vizhinjam project,' the Chief Minister added. The Punargeham scheme, launched by the Kerala government, is specifically aimed at providing secure and sustainable housing for families who have lost their homes to coastal erosion or development projects such as the Vizhinjam newly allotted flats are fully equipped with modern amenities and designed to offer a sustainable living environment, ensuring long-term security and improved quality of life for the affected fisherfolk communities.- EndsManogna M Jagadeesh IN THIS STORY#Kerala
News18
07-08-2025
- General
- News18
Kerala CM announces handover of 348 flats to rehabilitate coastal families
Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 7 (PTI) In a significant step towards rehabilitating coastal families affected by sea erosion and the Vizhinjam International Seaport project, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday announced the handover of 348 flats under the Punargeham housing initiative. The CM shared the update on his official X account, stating, 'Another promise to our fisherfolk fulfilled." 'Under the Punargeham project, 332 flats at Muttathara and 16 more at Unnial, Tanur, have been handed over. These safe, modern homes ensure a life of dignity for coastal families relocated due to sea erosion and the Vizhinjam project," he said. The Punargeham scheme, launched by the state government, aims to provide secure housing for families displaced by coastal erosion and development projects. view comments First Published: August 07, 2025, 23:00 IST Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
The Hindu
07-07-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
Close to year after commissioning, Vizhinjam leads in south, east zones, ranks third at national level
Close to a year after the Vizhinjam International Seaport began commercial operations, the port has handled a record volume of over 8 lakh twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) containers by facilitating the berthing of around 385 ships. The port is ranked third at the national level after Mundra Port, the flagship port of Adani Ports & SEZ Ltd. and Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) in Mumbai. However, the port is ranked first compared to the private ports in the south and east zones this fiscal year in terms of handling cargo volume. The port, which began limited-scale commercial operations during the five-month trial period that began on July 12, 2024 and subsequently the full-fledged commercial operations on December 3, has been redefining the maritime business from the south shortly after its commissioning. According to the closing volume of Indian private ports in the south and east zones in June, Vizhinjam Port is way ahead of other ports, although closely followed by Chennai International Port with 82,829 TEU and Cochin Port with 81,007. According to sources in the port, the full-fledged commercial operation of the Vizhinjam port also benefited the Cochin port due to the spillover effect. The port, which recently received environmental clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests, will scale up its capacity by setting up additional infrastructure facilities as part of the second and third phases of development. The port concessionaire, Adani Vizhinjam Ports Private Ltd. (AVPPL), will invest around ₹10,000 crore as part of the expansion of the transshipment port. Upon completion of the second and third phases, the port will see the container handling capacity increased to 30 lakh TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) from the 10 lakh TEUs in Phase I. Through the use of automated systems, the capacity of the port can also be increased to 45 lakhs TEUs containers per year.
Scroll.in
08-06-2025
- Politics
- Scroll.in
World Oceans Day: From Kerala's ravaged coast, a warning about the price of reckless development
In the middle of each year, the calendar of global conscience turns to World Oceans Day on June 8. This year's theme, 'Wonder: Sustaining What Sustains Us', hangs over Kerala's ravaged coastline like a cruel joke, as did the motif of World Environment Day on June 5 – 'End Plastic Pollution'. Even as diplomats in Nice and Seoul exchange platitudes about marine conservation, the sinking on May 25 of the MSC ELSA-3 – the container ship, which went down in stormy waters off Kerala's coast – has revealed what progress truly costs when measured in broken ecosystems and broken lives. The facts read like an indictment of our times. On May 24, the Liberian-flagged container ship departed the newly inaugurated Vizhinjam Port into the teeth of the southwest monsoon. Fishing boats had been ordered ashore – the sea was too dangerous for small craft. Yet the 300-metre behemoth, laden with containers (some with calcium carbide, others brimming with polyethylene pellets), received clearance to sail. Within hours, it listed violently. By dawn, the MSC ELSA-3 lay at the bottom of the Arabian Sea, just 38 nautical miles from the port that had so recklessly released it. This was no act of God, as insurers and corporations will soon claim. It was the inevitable result of systems that value cargo over communities, schedules over safety and rhetoric over responsibility. For years, Kerala's fisherfolk warned that Vizhinjam's breakwaters would accelerate coastal erosion. Oceanographers documented how the monsoon's fury made these waters a gamble for large vessels. Yet when Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Adani-built port on May 2, he hailed it as India's 'maritime crown jewel' – a triumph of development over doubt. As Kerala's most ambitious port project nears its grand launch, Vizhinjam stands as a symbol of bold governance and strategic investment. With ₹5,370 Cr+ in state funding, it's India's only major port led by a State — VizhinjamInternationalSeaport (@PortOfVizhinjam) April 30, 2025 The ocean answered three weeks later. Today, Kerala's beaches wear a new kind of tide line, one marked by plastic pellets, chemical foam and broken shipping containers. Fishing grounds lie fallow, not by choice but by contamination and government fiat to fishers not to fish. The Kerala government's response of 6 kg of rice and Rs 1,000 per month to the fishers is not relief. It is plain ridicule. Meanwhile, the Mediterranean Shipping Company that owns the vessel hesitates to release the full cargo manifest, while the port authorities feign surprise at a disaster they enabled. The bitter irony? Many sponsors of this year's World Environment Day on June 5 were corporate giants producing and utilising the very plastics now choking Kerala's coast. The same shipping industry that treats vessels as disposable assets will doubtless help celebrate World Oceans Day. Such is the theatre of modern environmentalism – where polluters fund awareness campaigns as their toxins enter the food chain. True accountability would look different. It would mean: Until then, this annual observance will remain what it has always been – a greenwashed pantomime. The ocean does not need our performative 'day'. It needs us to confront the uncomfortable truth: development that destroys its protectors is not progress. It is piracy. Kerala's coast now serves as a warning written in water, one we ignore at our peril. For when we sacrifice the environment on the altar of growth, we do not just lose ecosystems. We lose our humanity. June 8 is World Oceans Day.
Indian Express
11-05-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Delhi Confidential: 1 port, many claimants
AS THE debate over credit for Vizhinjam International Seaport, inaugurated recently by PM Narendra Modi in the presence of Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan and other leaders, continues, Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor has a different story on how the project was born. Speaking at a function organised by World Malayalee Council in the Capital, the Congress leader said former CM of Kerala, the late Oommen Chandy, had requested him to use his 'international connections' to find an investor to make the project a reality. Later, Tharoor met industrialist Gautam Adani at an airport and they happened to travel together. During the trip, Tharoor said, he convinced Adani to take up the project. 'That's how it started,' he said. Exam Tension Pakistan's escalatory action on the intervening night of May 8-9 sent officers of the Education Ministry into a huddle on Friday and briefly on Saturday over the conduct of upcoming high-stakes entrance tests like JEE Advanced and CUET. It is learnt that the NTA was considering postponing CUET for the border states, and IITs were considering reassigning centres closer to the border areas to other places. However, after the ceasefire announcement, everything seems back on track. First For CJI Office When Justice B R Gavai takes oath as the Chief Justice of India on May 14, he is set to be the first practicing Buddhist to hold that position. Incidentally, on Monday he is likely to visit the Shanti Stupa in the Capital to celebrate Buddha Purnima and offer prayers before he takes over the top office. Justice Gavai's father R S Gavai was among the nearly 4 lakh people who were initiated into Buddhism in 1956 in Nagpur by Dr B R Ambedkar.
