Sticking to the BJP’s manifesto, Union Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said Ram Setu will not be broken for the proposed controversial Sethu Samudram shipping canal project. Replying during Question Hour in the lok Sabha, the Minister said the Government would make efforts to find an alternative route for the project without damaging the Ram Setu.
“We won’t break Ram Setu. The matter is sub-judice so I won’t speak on it but four alternatives have been suggested.” said Gadkari. He said the Government would inform Supreme Court about the matter and decisions regarding this would be taken after his visit to the spot in the first week of September.
Sethu Samudram project, considered as the pet project of DMK, was inaugurated during UPA-1 regime in 2006. The project was allotted Rs4,000 crore initially to start dredging works for the new shipping canal. The project was declared by the Centre’s environment expert committee in 1998 as an “environmental disaster”. However, in 1999, the Centre decided to review the findings of the expert committee and granted permission for the project. DMK was a partner in the NDA Government then.
Breaking of the historical Ram Setu, the coral bridge believed to have been created by lord Ram, had provoked Hindu organisations and the RSS had come out openly against the breaking of the ancient bridge, described in the epic Ramayan. The Supreme Court in 2008 stayed the work of the Sethu Samudram project on a case filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy
