The Bandar Hatao Kinara Bachao Samiti a fishermen's body spearheading the agitation has invited the tribunal, which will examine if the construction of the port violated human rights and the environmental consequences thereafter. Retired justice of Mumbai High Court S M Daud and noted human rights activist Raajen Singh will prepare the report for the tribunal.

Members of the tribunal, who met a cross section of people on Sunday, will prepare a report after hearing the fishermen, Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) and NATELCO, the company which is going to build the port. The tribunal is expected to submit its report within a month, Col Pratap Save, BHKBS convener told Express Newsline.

According to Priti Verma, co-ordinator for the tribunal, the NGO had written to GMB and NATELCO, seeking facts on the project. ``Though GMB -- was informed that the tribunal members would be visiting Nargol on Sunday where they could meet them -- did not bother to respond to our request, NATELCO told us that they would meet us in Mumbai,'' Verma said.

After visiting six-odd villages likely to be affected by the proposed port, Daud said, ``The fishermen are up in arms against the port because the government has kept them in dark. The government has tried mislead the local fishermen, who do not want mega port, who say that they are happy the way they are.'' Daud said he was also submitted copies of resolution opposing the port by all the village panchayats in Umargam.

According to Daud, Col Save's farm, which was also likely to be affected, ``was a valuable land, known for good cultivation in the area, and should be preserved for agricultural research and heritage.''

``It is strange,'' Daud added, ``that the port is being built in Umargam where the people who do not want it and not Krishnapur (in Navsari district) where the people desperately want one.''

Meanwhile, Valsad District Collector Pankaj Kumar, when contacted, claimed that certain people with vested interests were opposing the project. ``If the local people have any problems, they should have come to me. We will try to accommodate their objections. Unfortunately, the Samiti never approached us, though they have been inviting NGOs.''