Sethu project in cold storage? Report by 2011

Adhik Vaishakh Shuddha Ashtami, Kaliyug Varsha 5112

New Delhi: The once raging controversy over the Rs 2,240 crore Sethu Samudram Shipping Channel Project was virtually consigned to the cold storage on Wednesday much to the relief of the UPA government.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appointed expert panel headed by noted environmentalist R K Pachauri told the Supreme Court through additional solicitor general Harin Raval that it was not possible to give an environmental impact assessment of the alternative alignment before February next year.

The panel was appointed more than 20 months ago, in July 2008, to study a viable and environemntally safe alternative alignment for the shipping channel as petitions accused the government of coming under the pressure of its ally DMK to dredge through Adam’s Bridge or Ram Sethu, which is worshipped by many Hindus believing it be the bridge built by Lord Ram.

The government had stirred a hornet’s nest by filing an affidavit debunking the theory of Lord Ram building the bridge and doubting the authenticity of Ramayan. Adverse public opinion and a political controversy forced it to withdraw the affidavit.

ASG Raval informed a Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices R V Raveendran that Pachauri felt that it would not be technically feasible for the expert group to form any opinion on the data of a period shorter than 365 days.

Pachauri said: "Given the variations in the ocean currents, wind patterns and related sedimentation as well as other phenomenons related to the weather, it would be incomplete to arrive at an Environmental Impact Analysis on the basis of information which is less than the entire annual cycle that is 365 days."

"There are also issues of impacts on marine life and on species that would depend on the variability of factors throughout the year and which cannot under any circumstances be treated as uniform," he said.

"Consequently, if we wish to carry out a full, comprehensive and valid Environment Impact Analysis, cutting short the period of observation below 365 days would seriously restrict the scientific validity of the whole exercise," he said in response to SC’s suggestion for an interim report on the basis of studies for 2-3 months.

The Bench agreed with Pachauri and said the matter would be heard afresh after the submission of the report by the expert panel in February 2011. However, it rejected Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy’s plea to declare the Sethu Samudram Project illegal as no EIA study had taken place. It also refused to direct the Centre to consider Ram Sethu as a national monument.

The six-member Pachauri Committee, tasked to examine the possibility of cutting a canal through land mass between Dhanuskodi and Rameshwaram, would also study its impact on culture, environment and law and order among other issues, the Centre had informed the Supreme Court in July 2008.

The project has been stalled since mid-2007 after the SC stayed the dredging of the Ram Sethu, sparking off protest bandhs by DMK and a war of words that followed from the apex court, which even verbally threatened to recommend President’s rule in the state on the ground of breakdown of the law and order machinery.

Source: TOI

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