Ram Sethu not to be damaged for Sethusamudram canal project : Centre
New Delhi, Mar 16 (IBNS) : "Ram Sethu" or the Adam's bridge that runs under water connecting India and Sri Lanka, will not be drilled or damaged "in the interests of the nation", the centre on Friday told the Supreme Court, NDTV reported.
The Government said it will, instead, look for alternative routes to implement the Sethusamudram Canal Project - a shipping channel between India and Lanka.
"That the government of India intends to explore an alternative to the earlier alignment of Sethusamudram Ship Channel project without affecting/damaging the Adam's Bridge/Ram Sethu in the interest of the nation," the Union Ministry of Shipping informed the court in an affidavit.
The apex court was hearing a petition against a project to set up a shipping channel between India and Lanka.
The Supreme Court, in November last year, had granted time to the centre to spell out whether it has taken a stand to cut through Ram Sethu for the Sethusamudram project.
The name "Ram sethu" derived from the belief of many Hindus that it was the one, mentioned in the Ramayana, which Lord Ram had built with the help from an army of monkeys, to rescue his wife Sita from Ravana, the ruler of Lanka.
It is a 50-km stretch of limestone shoals that runs from Pamban Island near Rameshwaram in South India to Mannar Island off the northern coast of Sri Lanka. The sea in the area is very shallow and hinders navigation.
Under the Sethusamudram project, a 83-km-long deep water channel would have been created linking Mannar with Palk Strait by extensive dredging and removal of the limestone shoals which constitute the Sethu.
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