A causeway between India and Sri lanka is on the anvil, according to one of the leading policy makers of the island nation. “In spite of the tension between Sri lanka and Tamil Nadu, it is possible to construct a causeway along the Palk Strait in the Indian Ocean without causing any kind of damage to the fragile ecology of the region,” this expert who counsels President Mahinda Rajapaksa told an informal gathering.
Though it sounded a bit utopian, further enquiries revealed that a project to construct a causeway between the two countries had reached the table of former Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe during his tenure.
“Yes, our leader Ranil Wickramasinghe was very positive about this highway between India and Sri lanka,” Ramiah Yogarajan, Member of Parliament, Sri lanka told The Pioneer. Yogarajan, a senior functionary of the United National Party, is an engineer by profession and says there is nothing strange in this project. “The two countries are separated by just 30 km and it is time we brought the people of both India and Sri lanka closer,” he said.
There exists a causeway, Ram Sethu, between the two countries, which according to mythology was built by lord Ram to wage war against King Ravan who had abducted the former’s wife Sita from India. A satellite picture of this causeway which is submerged in water has been filmed by US satellites. Interestingly, there is a temple dedicated to Seetha in Nuwara Eliya district of Sri lanka.
Ramasamy Wijayapalan, a planter and social activist, said the distant neighbours need each other more than in the past and a causeway/highway was the need of the hour. “If France and England could be connected through road underneath the English Channel, what prevents the Governments of India and Sri lanka from going ahead with a project of this kindIJ” asked Wijayapalan.
Siri Fernando, Director, Frontier Automotive Pvt ltd, and a prominent citizen in Colombo too sounded upbeat about the causeway. “But the current political situation in Tamil Nadu has to improve considerably for that dream to become a reality. There is immense potential for both India and Sri lanka if such a highway is constructed,” said Fernando.
But Gotabaya Rajapaksa, secretary, Ministries of Defence and Infrastructure Development was cautious when asked about the possibility of such a thoroughfare connecting the two nations. “The situation prevailing in Tamil Nadu is a matter of concern. But we are serious about the revival of the Boat Mail which was there till the 1960s. We prefer a ferry service between Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu and Talaimannar in Sri lanka. This will be of help to Budhist, Hindu and Christian pilgrims in both the countries,” Rajapaksa told.
He said discussions have taken place between officials of both the countries. “We will have a train service between Colombo and Mannar. Passengers could be ferried to Rameshwaram or Dhanushkoti and from there they can catch trains to Gaya and other holy places,” said the Defence Secretary.
V Thevaraj, veteran scribe and editor, Veerakesari, a leading Tamil daily, said the highway should become a reality at the earliest. “There should be more people to people contact between the two countries. The Tamil issue should never come in between the two countries as we have a lot of commonalities other than this issue,” said Thevaraj. It may not take more than an hour by bus from Jaffna to Rameshwaram.