Tamil Nadu - Salem   

Work on Sethusamudhram project going on unhindered, says Baalu

SALEM: Despite facing a few technical hardships, the dredging works of the Sethusamudhram Shipping Canal Project were going on unhindered, said Union Minister of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways T. R. Baalu.

Refusing to explain in detail “the nature of hardships” which the project is facing, the minister said no one could disturb a development project, cleared by the Union Government and passed on the floor of Parliament. “The Sethu project is a nation’s project. And it is a national pride,” Mr. Baalu said.

Dismissing the charges of a few political outfits that dredging the Adams Bridge would destroy the ancient ‘Ramar Sethu’, the minister said on Thursday that the project was being executed after a thorough scientific studies. Those who claimed it as the ‘Heritage site’ today, happened to be the people who actually evolved and cleared it. “It is their study on alignment we follow today,” the minister claimed. He said no organisation had declared it as the heritage site. No government in the past, including the BJP-led NDA Government that took up the preliminary works of the canal project, had declared the Adam Bridge as a heritage site. Scientific studies, he claimed, had confirmed that the bridge was made of sand deposits and not of a man-made structure. “We have scientific evidences to prove it beyond doubt,” he said.

Asked about the sudden two-month leave taken by the Tuticorin Port Trust Chairman and Chairman and Managing Director of Sethusamudhram Corporation Limited (SCL) N.K. Raghupathi, the minister said that it was taken purely for personal reasons. He (Mr. Raghupathy) said he had some 152 days of leave and wanted to avail it for personal reasons. It was just a routine administrative matter to which nothing should be attributed, he added. The Union Ministry of Shipping has asked the Chennai Port Trust Chairman to hold these additional charges.

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