Fishermen from Mullakkadu and residents of a few nearby villages, who were hitherto opposing the greenfield shipbuilding yard coming up on the outskirts of Thoothukudi, have pledged their support for this project.

The fishermen on Tuesday submitted a letter with Thoothukudi Revenue Divisional Officer M. Prabhu, saying they were ready to relocate to the place identified by the district administration as part of the rehabilitation process.

As HD Korea Shipbuilding and Offshore Engineering has expressed interest in investing ₹38,000 crore at Muthaiahpuram, Mullakkadu and the adjoining areas for its proposed greenfield shipbuilding yard, the district administration has initiated steps to acquire 1,700 acres of land in Mullakkadu I, Mullakkadu II and Pazhayakayal for this project, which is expected to create around 15,000 direct employment. This investment will also create thousands of jobs in marine components manufacturing in the region.

Even though a much of the 1,700 acres are government poramboke lands, a vast extent of these lands have been given on lease for salt manufacturers for “insignificant amounts”.

Hence, District Collector Vishu Mahajan deputed Mr. Prabhu to hold talks with local people and salt pan owners for acquiring the lands. The RDO’s first round of talks with the fishermen on Tuesday last did not make any headway.

In the letter submitted to Mr. Prabhu now, the fishermen said they had built houses with asbestos roof on government poramboke lands at Mullakkadu Fishermen Colony over the past 40 years as it was closer to the sea.

“Since the government has proposed to create the greenfield shipbuilding yard in our area, we wholeheartedly agree to give the lands and move to the place to be identified by the district administration. Once the free houses are given to us as part of the rehabilitation measure, we will leave this place,” they said.

In the afternoon, a group of 200 persons from Mullakkadu, J.S. Nagar, Soosai Nagar, Muthaiahpuram, SPIC Nagar and adjoining areas met Mr. Prabhu and assured that they would support the project if the local youths were given preference in employment in the shipbuilding yard.

Balasubramanian of J.S. Nagar, who spoke on behalf of the villagers, said, “My son, a mechanical engineer, is working as contract worker in the upcoming Udangudi Thermal Power Station. Since he is a contract worker, I cannot find him a bride even though he’s an engineer. If you give preference to the local youths in recruitment for various technical and non-technical positions in this shipbuilding yard, we wholeheartedly welcome it.”

The other villagers assured Mr. Prabhu that they would submit on Wednesday a letter pledging their support for the shipbuilding yard.

Published - August 04, 2026 08:34 pm IST