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Ram Setu or Sethusamudram, this is the latest buzz which going on the Indian minds.

From the day of its inauguration of project Sethusamudram, Ram Setu or Sethusamudram controversy is haunting the UPA govt. the recent affidavit filed by government in supreme court which said that there are no historical proofs of Lord Rama and Ram Setu has worked as fuel in the fire for the government of India.

First of all before we discuses it more lets give you some briefs about Ram Setu and Sethusamudram.

What is Ram Setu or Adam’s Bridge –

Adam’s Bridge, also called Ram’s Bridge is a chain of limestone shoals, between the islands of Mannar, near northwestern Sri Lanka, and Rameswaram, off the southeastern coast of India. The bridge is 30 miles (48 km) long and separates the Gulf of Mannar (southwest) from the Palk Strait (northeast). Some of the sandbanks are dry and the sea in the area is very shallow, being only 3 ft to 30 ft (1 m to 10 m) deep. It was reportedly passable on foot up to the 15th century until storms deepened the channel: temple records seem to say that Ram’s Bridge was complete above sea level until it broke in a cyclone in 1480 AD.

What is project Sethusamudram –

A project called Sethusamudram was launched to create an alternative shorter route for ships to cross the Gulf of Mannar. Project first envisaged by Commander A D Taylor of the Indian Marine in 1860, then in 1955 the Government of India set up the Sethusamudram project committee to look into the feasibility of the project. In June 2005 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi inaugurated the project which will cost about Rs 24.27 billion.

The project is about Ship’s originating from the west of India and destined for Chennai, Ennore, Vishakapatnam, Paradeep, Haldia and Kolkata have to travel around the Sri Lankan coast resulting in increase of travel distance and time. Apart from this ships belonging to Indian Navy and Coast Guard need also to traverse around Sri Lanka. In order to reduce the steaming distances between the east and west coast of India and to improve the navigation within territorial waters of India, a navigation channel connecting the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay through Adam’s Bridge has been envisaged so that the ships moving between the east and west coasts of India need not go around Sri Lanka.

The UPA government and its allies are firm and defending the project as opportunity for development by attracting cargo vessels to ports in the eastern coast.

On other hand BJP and its allies like VHP and Banjrang Dal are trying to cash on the sentiments of Hindu’s world wide.

Hardcore Hindu organizations are also cashing on recent picture of Adams Bridge released by NASA. But NASA says they never said that this bridge is man made or is Ram Setu. The left parties are quoting the 2003 statement of Professor S.M. Ramasamy of Centre for Remote Sensing (CRS) of Bharathidasan University, Tiruchi who asserted that the Adam’s bridge over Palk Strait is about 3,500 years and not 1.7 million years as claimed by Sangh Parivar.

The third front in this case is environmentalists who are also opposing the project but not on religious ground but on the basis of environment. According to them, in the Gulf of Mannar there’s more than sentiment at stake. The marine national park has corals, sea cucumber and over 400 species of fish. The Sethu project is aimed at widening the ocean bed and the consistent churning of sediment will smother these coral reefs. The increase in shipping traffic will inevitably result in an increase in oil spills and marine pollution.

It is these coral reefs that act as natural barriers in case of impending disasters like a Tsunami and the fishermen in the area allege that once the reef is destroyed, the natural barrier will be broken and the impact of the Tsunami will be imminent.

Now the questions which are to be answered are why Government is keen on this project if religious and environment concern are related to it? If BJP and other Hindu outfits are not able to produce the proofs in favor of their claim of Ram Setu then are they just cashing on religious sentiments of public because they are sensing mid term polls in the country?

But at the present scenario it’s difficult to find an answer of these questions.

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