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BJP demands realignment of Sethu project

Neena Vyas

Alignment has been done without proper studies: Joshi

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party wants the Sethusamudram Channel project to be realigned so that the old ridge under the seabed popularly known as Ram Setu (Ram's bridge) is not destroyed. Till a new alignment is approved the BJP wants work on the project to be stopped.

For four days between March 19 and 22 a party team led by Murli Manohar Joshi visited areas around Chennai and Rameswaram to study the facts of the case and on Monday it came out with its report. On that basis Prof. Joshi has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh: "At the very outset let me make it clear that the BJP is not opposed to the Sethusamudram project but is certainly concerned with the preservation of this most ancient cultural heritage of our country [known as Ram Setu or Adam's Bridge]..."

After meeting scholars, scientists, fishermen, Hindu priests and local politicians the team came to the conclusion that the proposed channel should be realigned to prevent the destruction of the ancient under-sea formation. He said the alignment had been done without proper studies. He asked the Prime Minister to get the authorities to study the possible effect of a tsunami in the area.

Prof. Joshi said the nation's strategic and maritime interests had been ignored and no proper consultations took place with the Navy on the full implications of the proposed channel.

The letter alleged that the Government had failed to protect India's rights in the waters of the Gulf of Mannar and it had succumbed to American pressure by an "arbitrary choice of an alignment running very close to the international water boundary."

It said the Government had "deliberately ignored" the sentiments of Hindus.

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