NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day on Wednesday following a furore over the Sethusamudram project. There were exchanges between the treasury and Opposition benches.

Responding to a calling attention motion, on the status of the project and the controversy over its alignment, moved by Vijay Kumar Malhotra (Bharatiya Janata Party), Shipping Minister T.R. Baalu said none of the studies andinvestigations produced any tangible scientific evidence of the existence of any man-made structure or any other structure of archaeological importance in the area. In the absence of any clinching evidence, none of the successive governments, including the one led by National Democratic Alliance, either announced or initiated action to declare the project site or parts of it a monument of national importance.

"In view of this, I would like to state that the alignment of the Sethusamudram Ship Channel does not contain any UNESCO-declared world heritage site or any government-declared monument of national importance, and hence there is no question of damage being caused to any such heritage by the implementation of the project."

Sand formations

Quoting a NASA study, Mr. Baalu said sand formations, called tombolos, had formed Adam's Bridge (Palk Strait) connecting India with Sri Lanka.

Mr. Malhotra said it was a question of "faith" as every year so many people watched the "Ram Lila," which showed the Lord's army marching to Ravana's Lanka over "Ram Sethu."

As Left and Congress members asked for evidence of the existence any such bridge, the BJP members shot back saying they were disturbing Mr. Malhotra and the Speaker should restrain the Left members.

Mr. Malhotra then suggested that land on the Dhanuskodi island be dug up to make the channel connect the Bay of Bengal to the Arabian Sea as was done in the case of the Suez Canal. "Such a measure would not destroy Ram Sethu." Stressing that religious sentiments of a large section should be respected, the BJP leader claimed that the area was rich in thorium reserves. Also there were environmental issues, and 15 lakh fishermen would be deprived of their livelihood.

Repeated interruptions by the Minister evoked BJP protests which, in turn, provoked the Congress, DMK and Left members to shout back. As the heated exchanges continued, the Speaker adjourned the House till 2 p.m.

When it reassembled after lunch, Mr. Malhotra continued to insist that "Ram Sethu" would be destroyed by one of the four alignments of the Sethu project, and the sentiments of the people would be hurt.

UPA and Left parties wanted evidence of the existence of the bridge. This led to arguments, following which the House was adjourned for the day.

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