Indian archdiocese in troubled waters after stir against billionaire’s seaport

An archdiocese in southern India has fallen on hard times after it took part in a protest against an international seaport in the Indian Ocean, operated by a billionaire.

Archbishop Thomas J Netto of Trivandrum (now Thiruvananthapuram), based in the capital of southern Kerala, sought his lay Catholics' contribution in a pastoral letter on April 21. Bishops, priests, and nuns from the archdiocese had participated in Catholic fishermen's protest against the Vizhinjam International Deepwater Multipurpose Seaport, built by Gautam Adani, the world’s 16th richest person with a fortune worth $70.8 billion, according to Forbes.

 “The archdiocese fell into 'serious financial crisis'" after the pro-Hindu federal government, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi “canceled its permit to accept foreign donations,” Netto said.  Adani is close to Modi.

The license was canceled in February 2023 after Netto and senior priests joined the 140-day protest, alleging large-scale coastal erosion due to the $900 million project, located just 10 nautical miles from the busy international shipping route connecting Europe, the Persian Gulf and the Far East.

According to protesters, construction of groynes, the artificial sea walls, was causing coastal erosion.  They alleged that millions of tons of rocks are thrown into the sea and the seabed blasted for the construction of the port. It is spread over 450 hectares of land, after reclaiming more than 120 hectares of ocean and dredging the seabed.

The protesters attacked the local police on Nov. 27, 2022, injuring several policemen.

The protest was called off on Dec. 6, 2022, after the government promised compensation.

The project, constructed under the public-private partnership, was scheduled to be commissioned in 2019. It was delayed due to issues related to land acquisition.

The government "froze our bank accounts last year after the stir in Vizhinjam. The situation continues even now," the archbishop said in the pastoral letter.

Netto said the archdiocese was struggling to find around 20 million rupees (US$240,000) to train priests and care for retired clergy as its coffers are empty.

The archdiocese had two licenses to receive foreign funds — one for the archdiocese and one for its social wing — and they were active until March 2022. In February 2023, the licenses were revoked, citing diocesan officials' presence in the stir.

The port, called "India's gateway to international transshipment", became partially operational in October 2023 with the arrival of a Chinese ship carrying massive cranes.

The international seaport is expected to be fully operational in September this year. In the first week of this month, the port obtained the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code from the International Maritime Organization (IMO), which is mandatory for international ships to operate to and from the port.

Implementing the code helps make maritime transport safer and checks the possibility of terror attacks as it calls for stringent security measures.

The port is expected to compete with Colombo, Singapore, and Dubai in attracting transshipment traffic in the Arabian Sea, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.