The Hindu : National : BJP communalising Sethu project: CPI

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 30, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

National

National

BJP communalising Sethu project: CPI

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Communist Party of India on Tuesday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party was “communalising” the Sethusamudram project.

“The BJP is trying to communalise the entire issue and concealing the facts of the project, which was cleared during the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) rule,” CPI national secretary D. Raja told The Hindu here.

Maintaining that the project had the support of all political parties, he said the BJP-led NDA regime gave all clearances, including technical approval, for the project. The environmental clearance was given on March 31, 2005 and the Cabinet approved it on May 19 the same year at an estimated cost of Rs. 2427 crore.

The CPI leader said the then Union Shipping Minister Shatrughan Sinha also confirmed the “sixth alignment” on September 29, 2003 and the project involved only 10 metres of dredging from the Adam’s Bridge.

“The project required only 300 metres of the 30 km length of the Adam’s Bridge.” The project, if implemented, would save 30 hours of journey from the east to west coast.

In the form of the Sethsamudram project, he said, it was the 15th attempt to prepare a route that would save on fuel, time, bring down the distance between the two coasts and spur development of the coastal areas.

Accusing the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam of taking a U-turn on the project, he pointed out that the party supported the project in its 2004 election manifesto.

Mr. Raja also found fault with the Congress for “deviating from the Common Minimum Programme.” The Congress was “dithering” on key national issues such as price rise, reservation, the Sachar committee recommendations and Sethusamudram.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National