By IANS,
New Delhi : The central government Wednesday informed the Supreme Court that it has decided to appoint an expert committee to examine the feasibility of an alternate alignment for a shorter sea-route around India’s southern peninsula, sparing the Ram Setu.
Senior government counsel Fali S. Nariman gave this information to a bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan.
The court had earlier suggested the government examine the feasibility of an alternate route for the Sethusamudram shipping channel.
The Adam’s Bridge or Ram Setu is a 48-km long chain of limestone shoals that once linked Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu with Mannar in Sri Lanka’s northwest. Many Hindus believe that it was the bridge Lord Ram’s army built to cross over to Lanka to rescue his wife Sita.
The bridge faces some damage due to the dredging for the Setusamudram canal to create a navigable waterway between India’s southern tip and Sri Lanka.