No demolition of Ram Setu: Gadkari

Kartik Shuklapaksha 13/14, Kaliyug Varsha 5116

Chennai: Categorically ruling out the demolition of the Adam’s Bridge, better known as the Ram Sethu, which in mythology was believed to have been constructed by Lord Ram to travel to Sri Lanka, Union Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project would instead be implemented on a different route.

The issue of safety of the Ram Sethu, raised by a section of the Hindu believers, had led to the stalling of works on the ambitious Rs 27,000 crore project, which was mooted during the erstwhile Vajpayee Government when the DMK was its ally. The project envisages dredging a channel across the Palk Straits to provide shorter navigational routes so as to boost the country’s economic trade.

“There is no question of demolishing ‘Ram Sethu’ while implementing the SSCP,” Gadkari told journalists while answering a specific question in Ramanathapuram in southern Tamil Nadu, after undertaking an aerial inspection of the sea on a Coast Guard hovercraft.

In the past when Sangh Parivar groups had raised objection to the SSCP citing the safety of the Ram Sethu, DMK leader Karunanidhi had stirred a controversy by questioning if Lord Ram had indeed constructed the bridge and if, yes, in which engineering college did the Lord get his degree from.

Incidentally, the AIADMK Government, which was once a strong votary of the project, is now opposing it saying dredging the sea could deplete marine resources and affect the livelihood of fishermen.

Allaying fears that huge money spent on the project so far could go down the drain, the Minister said “We will utilise the part of the project which is completed. We are trying to use part of the sea that has already been dredged for the project. Now we are trying to find a route for the new alignment.”

The Government believes that implementing the SCCP would help the country economically and strategically, he added.

Source : Free Press Journal