By IANS
New Delhi : The central government Thursday moved the Supreme Court seeking transfer of various petitions pending in the Madras High Court against the execution of the ambitious Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project (SSCP) off India’s southern coast.
Taking note of the government’s transfer petition, a bench of Justices B.N. Agarwal and P.P. Naolekar ordered its listing for hearing Tuesday along with two other petitions against the project pending with the bench.
The bench ordered the listing of the government’s petition after Additional Solicitor General R. Mohan apprised it about its filing.
On behalf of the government, the petition was filed by state-run Sethusamudram Corporation Limited that has been entrusted with the task of executing the project.
Sethusamudram envisages a shorter navigational sea route around India’s southern peninsula by dredging the peak of Ram Setu or Adam’s Bridge between India and Sri Lanka.
India, despite having a peninsular coast of 7,517 km with 12 major ports and 185 medium and minor ports, does not have continuous a navigational sea route around its peninsula through its own territorial waters owing to the existence of the shallow undersea ridge at depth of 1.5 to 3.5 metre, known as Adam’s Bridge.
The ships calling at Indian ports on the east coast have to go around Sri Lanka entailing an additional distance of 254 to 424 nautical miles and an additional time of 18 to 30 hours. The project was envisaged 150 years ago, but was cleared by the central government in 2005.
Some Hindus, however, believe Adam’s Bridge to Ram Setu, mentioned in epic Ramayana, and believed to be built by Lord Ram’s army of monkeys and bears to cross over to Sri Lanka to rescue his wife Sita.
Some environmentalists have also objected to the project.
Janata Party president Subramanyam Swamy and Chennai-based organisation Hindu Munnai’s president Rama Gopalan had moved the Madras High Court seeking directions to the government to declare Adam’s Bridge as a protected site of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
Arguing that they were not against the execution of the project, Swamy and Gopalan through their petitions wanted to know from the government if it was possible that Adam’s Bridge could be dredged only across its limited stretch.
On the petitions by them, the high court has issued notices to the ASI and the central government, seeking their replies before July 23, the next date of hearing of the petitions.
Meanwhile, the apex court is to hear here July 17, several other petitions challenging the execution of the prestigious project.