World | India
Government still intends to bore new shipping lane
The government is sticking to plans to bore a major new shipping lane, officials said yesterday, despite objections by Hindu groups who say it would destroy a rock and sand ridge built by a Hindu deity.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:30 February 29, 2008
New Delhi: The government is sticking to plans to bore a major new shipping lane, officials said yesterday, despite objections by Hindu groups who say it would destroy a rock and sand ridge built by a Hindu deity.
Billed as the Suez Canal, the $560-million (Dh2 billion) Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project is expected to reduce ship journeys between the country's western and eastern coasts by up to 36 hours by creating a channel between the mainland and Sri Lanka.
Ships now endure a long detour around Sri Lanka.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has been trying to exploit the controversy for political gain ahead of elections due next year, and opponents have asked the Supreme Court to stop the scheme.
Response
The government, which has been unsettled by protests and criticism over the issue, will file its response to the objections today but will not back down.
"We will tell the court to allow us to build the shipping lane," a government minister said yesterday after a special cabinet committee meeting reaffirmed support for the project.
"At least work can start on the non-controversial portions of the project."
Hindu religious texts recount the life of Ram, a Hindu deity said to have commanded his army of monkeys to build a bridge to Sri Lanka thousands of years ago so he could rescue his kidnapped wife, Sita.
As proof of that bridge, many Hindus point to a ridge of rock and sand in a shallow stretch of sea between southern India and Sri Lanka. The government says it was moulded by the ocean tides.
The shipping channel, a 100-kilometre long, 300-metre wide watery groove, will have to be dredged through that ridge.
The BJP said it wanted the plans changed so that the ridge was not affected.
"We want changes in the plan. We want the alignments of the channel in a way that will not affect the Ram Setu," BJP leader Yashwant Sinha said.
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