Kerala Assembly urges Centre to withdraw deep-sea mining proposal

The Kerala assembly on Tuesday passed a resolution urging the central government to withdraw its move to allow deep-sea mineral mining off the coast of the state.

The resolution moved by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was passed amidst the opposition UDF MLAs protesting in front of the Speaker's dais accusing him of acting as an "agent" of the ruling front.

The UDF MLAs were protesting for not allowing the Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly V D Satheesan to complete his speech before walking out as their demand to adjourn the business of the house to discuss ASHA workers' protest was not accepted.

Due to this protest, the deep-sea mining resolution was passed without discussion.

The Kerala government has already made it clear that the Centre's move to initiate deep-sea mining along the state's coast cannot be allowed at any cost and the concern of the state's fishermen community in this regard has already been conveyed to the union government.

Both the criteria in the Offshore Areas Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act - 2002, and the amendments made to it last year were not in the interests of states, it had said earlier in the House.

The ruling front had also urged the opposition Congress-led UDF to join the agitation against the proposed deep-sea mining.

The UDF has rejected the invitation for a joint protest, alleging that the Left government was "supporting" the mining initiative.

It has said that it will protest against the Centre's move separately.

The government had said in the Assembly last month that in the long run, the deep-sea mining would destroy the traditional marine and backwater fish stock completely, accelerate coastal erosion and job loss, and pose a hindrance to the vessels of the fishermen.

Kerala Industries Minister P Rajeeve recently said that Kerala had formally registered its protest against the deep-sea mining proposal on three occasions.

Last month a 24-hour hartal was organised in the state by fishermen unions under the Kerala Fisheries Coordination Committee to protest against the central government's decision  Fishermen had refrained from fishing activities as part of the protest, leading to disruptions at fishing ports, fish landing centres, and fish markets across the coastal stretch from Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram.

According to the committee leaders, the Centre has decided to auction sand blocks for offshore mining in five sectors Kollam South, Kollam North, Alappuzha, Ponnani and Chavakkad.

As part of the protest, the committee plans to hold a Parliament march on March 12.