The Asian Age - Enjoy the difference

The Asian Age - Enjoy the difference

Govt: Ram Sethu is bridge too far

By Our Special Correspondent

New Delhi, March 6: Union tourism and culture Minister Ambika Soni told Parliament on Tuesday that there were no archaeological studies which confirmed the existence of a Ram Sethu bridge between India and Sri Lanka in ancient times.

In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Ms Soni acknowledged that a Nasa satellite picture did show the existence of a stretch of land bridge in the Palk Strait between the countries. She went on to inform the House that, however, there were no archaeological studies which could confirm this. The government, she added, had no plans for any preservation initiative in this regard.

There have been protests over the dredging work in the Sethusamudram Project, where the ancient Ram Sethu (bridge) was supposedly located, on the grounds that this would destroy the ancient symbolic link between India and Sri Lanka. The protesters wanted the dredging work to be given up at this particular location. The Rs 2,400-crore project envisages dredging of a navigation lane in the shallow waters of the Palk Strait, enabling ships to move between the eastern and western ports of the country without having to go all around the southern tip of Sri Lanka. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had laid the foundation for the project on July 2, 2005.

AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa has also been opposing the Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project (SSCP) on the ground that the project would destroy marine ecology of the Bay of Bengal and deprive fishermen of their livelihood. The particular spot between Dhanushkoti to Sri Lanka cannot be entered by anyone, something that is borne out by the Nasa images. According to tradition, while construction of a railway bridge and a surface bridge are possible, the Sethusamudram Project is not able to make any headway.

Ms Jayalalithaa threatened to file a case if the Centre did not stop the work in the area immediately. Opposing dredging in the Ramar Sethu area or Adams Bridge in the Palk Strait for the Sethusamudram project, Ms Jayalalithaa had recently said: "The US space agency Nasa has established the antique nature of the bridge. When efforts are on to protect historical monuments the world over, the demolition of Ramar Sethu cannot be accepted."