Lives upended in two Uttara Kannada villages over pvt ports

Kasarkod Tonka/Keni: The fishing village of Kasarkod Tonka in Uttara Kannada’s Honnavar taluk looks almost deserted. There are no men around; children and women look traumatised. And commercial fishing activity, the only source of income, has ground to a halt.

Around 70 km away, Keni, a fishing village in Ankola taluk, is in the same boat. Here, too, the vessels have fallen silent. Here, too, residents fear for their future.

Life in both villages was upended a few days back when residents staged a protest over the upcoming two private ports. If it fructifies, the Keni port could affect at least 25 fishing villages and impact the lives and livelihood of 2,000 fisher families.

On February 25, Ruthvi (6) and Rachana (9) watched as their parents and relatives were thrashed and dragged by the police in Tonka.

While their fathers are among the 24 fishermen arrested and housed in Dharwad central jail, Rachana’s mother is recovering at the intensive care unit of the government hospital in Ankola. 

She had tried to drown in the sea, opposing the private port that is being developed by Honnavar Private Port Limited and is expected to come near her house. Following the police action, all men went 'underground' in the village.

Almost all the residents of the fisher colony have sustained injuries in the incident. DH has seen 23 videos recorded by the fisherfolk, in which they are seen slapped, dragged and canned by police who outnumbered the locals. The women also alleged that police destroyed or formatted their mobile phones to erase the evidence against them.   

“We were being treated like terrorists,” bristled a fisherwoman, wondering whether the district administration and police are for their safety or to work for the benefit of private companies.

Keni looks more like a police camp than a fishing village. On February 26, the fishers of the village staged a protest against the private port planned in their village. A few of them even tried to jump into the sea.

The greenfield port being developed by the Jindal South West Infrastructure (JSW) will be Asia’s second largest once completed. Over 1,000 police and rapid action force personnel are stationed at Keni.

“Why did the district administration impose Section 163 to carry out the survey? Why can’t the deputy commissioner and port officials explain to us what they are planning here,” asked Sanjeev Balegar, a resident of the village.

Srikanth Durgekar, a fishermen leader, cited the "examples of Sea Bird, Karwar and Belikeri ports" for their anxiety. "The displaced families neither got fair compensation, jobs nor rehabilitation. Instead, hundreds of vehicles carrying coal and iron ore will turn our villages into dump yards,” he said.

Deputy Commissioner Lakshmi Priya K and Superintendent of Police M Narayan justified clamping section 163 of the BNS as a preventive measure, saying they had received intelligence that fishermen were trying to drown in the sea.

Narayan said police arrested only those leaders who instigated others to attack revenue and port officials. “These are national projects and the Honnavar project has received favourable verdicts from courts," said Narayan. "The fishermen were preventing government officials from conducting surveys. As maintaining law and order is important and saving the lives of fishers was paramount, based on intelligence, police recommended imposing section 163 and the DC issued orders.” 

The SP also claimed that only illegal occupants of government land are creating issues in Tonka.

Amid the tension, the survey work has been stopped. 

Highlights - Unrest over ports Honnavar Private Port Limited is developing a private port in village of Tonka  A greenfield port will be developed by Jindal South West Infrastructure in Keni village On Feb 25, Tonka villagers were beaten up by police for protesting; men have gone 'underground' after action On Feb 26, villagers in Keni tried to jump into the sea in protest