In the interests of safety of the lives of the coastal people, it is prudent to stop the project work until the fundamental factors are re-studied and re-evaluated. It is also essential to involve NIOT and create a Marine Archaeological Unit to study the archaeology of the Ramar bridge and Kizhakkarai (Tiruchendur) where a s?ankha industry flourishes. It will be a tragedy of incalculable proportion to the cultural traditions of India, if this industry were to be devastated by the project.
It will be prudent to study the impact of the project on the cultural aspirations of the people and industries such as the ones that support livelihood of s?ankha divers. Impact on fisheries and future projects for desalination of seawater to provide drinking water to coastal towns should also be evaluated. The possibility of choosing an alternative route for the channel with little impact on the Ramar bridge should also be re-studied, taking into account the satellite image analyses which show that the secular historical trend of incursions and recessions of seawaters from almost the entire Indian coastline from Dwaraka through Gulf of Khambat, through Gulf of Mannar up to Ganga Sagar (West Bengal) are caused by a number of factors not excluding plate tectonics and global warming cycles.
The received narratives of the submergence of Kumarikandam should be a pointer to the imperative of careful studies before embarking on projects which hurt the cultural sentiments of the people who are inheritors of a glorious sea-faring, maritime, riverine civilization continuum.
(The writer is heading Sarasvati Research Centre and he is a former Sr. Exec., Asian Development Bank. He can be contacted at [email protected])
