Walking up the narrow, twisting street separating the congested rows of houses, it’s hard to miss the plastic pots. Almost every house seems to have two or three on their doorstep.
“It’s ₹8 for a pot of water. If the water lorry doesn’t come, there is no water,” explains Paniyadima, one of the residents of Valiya Kadappuram in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation’s newly formed Port Ward.
What makes the plight of this cluster of houses, whose inhabitants are mostly fisherfolk, noteworthy is that it sits on high ground directly overlooking the new Vizhinjam International Port. “Development is good. We are not against it. But is a good water supply too much to ask? It has been like this for decades,” explains Mr. Paniyadima. The 59-year-old, who still goes out to sea, grew up in this locality.
The upcoming local body elections do not cause any elation among the residents. While development has changed their lives in many ways, problems related to fundamental needs, such as round-the-clock supply of clean drinking water and proper waste disposal mechanism, persist as it did 10 or 20 years ago.
‘Unusable’
“I need five pots of water a day. Some families here, if they have children, need up to 10,” explains Francina, another resident of the locality. Some years ago, water pipes were drawn to the locality, but the residents allege that the water coming out of the taps is polluted and unusable. Here and there, fresh posters of smiling candidates can be seen on the walls. But her response to a question on the upcoming elections is a fierce frown.
Below, to one side of the beach, fishing boats, scores of them, have been drawn up on the beach in response to a weather alert for squalls. Adjoining this area is the new port, a vast and busy complex of massive cranes, stacked transshipment containers, office buildings and docked ships. Out at sea, more ships can be seen, waiting their turn to offload or take on containers.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)]-led Left Democratic Front (LDF), the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) all have candidates fielded in the Port ward and the Vizhinjam ward—easily one of the biggest wards of the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation—bordering it to the north. The 2025 ward delimitation exercise has changed the contours of the Corporation wards and added one taking the total number from 100 to 101.
On the coast, the Port ward was newly carved out by subsuming all the eight polling booths of the Kottapuram ward and three of the Mulloor ward. The remaining areas of the Mulloor ward were added to the neighbouring Venganoor ward. The international port is in the Port ward. To its north, the huge Vizhinjam ward is sandwiched between it and the Harbour ward.
In the 2015 elections, the UDF held the Mulloor ward, while the Kottapuram and Vizhinjam wards were in LDF hands. In the 2020 elections, C. Omana retained Mulloor for herself and the Congress. The Kottapuram ward was won by J. Paniadima, an Independent, while CPI(M)’s Sanmeera Mikhdad won the Vizhinjam ward. This time, J. Paniadima, who had won on a sizeable margin as an Independent, is the LDF candidate in the Port ward. He runs on a Communist Party of India (CPI) ticket. Reena Stansilas is the UDF candidate and Mukkola G. Prabhakaran is the NDA nominee. Next door, in the Vizhinjam ward, UDF’s K.H. Sudheer Khan is contesting against Noushad of the LDF and Sarvashaktipuram Binu of the NDA.
Coastal erosion
Development, its attendant benefits and negatives, have largely defined the politics of this region in recent years. In 2022, it witnessed large-scale protests demanding an immediate stop to the construction of the port by the Adani Group. The demonstrators, led by the Latin Archdiocese of Thiruvananthapuram, blamed the port for intensifying coastal erosion and impacting their livelihood.
The densely populated coastal villages of Thiruvananthapuram—the southernmost district has a 78-km long coastline—are among the most vulnerable stretches on the Kerala coast in the context of coastal erosion. With the inauguration of the port, the sea lanes have turned busier. The capsizing of the Liberian-flagged MSC Elsa-3 off the Kerala coast dumped millions of nurdles (plastic pellets) into the sea, most of which washed ashore on the beaches of Thiruvananthapuram. While development is a key issue, it is also a complex one for political parties. Dwindling catch, eroding beaches and fewer employment opportunities will be key issues in the upcoming elections.
Angelis runs a bunk shop in the Port ward. He has stopped going out to sea on account of his advanced age and ailments. He is 72. “All political parties say that they will bring us water. The issue has persisted for years. We are still waiting for the water,” he says.
Published – November 28, 2025 09:26 am IST
