A Public Interest Litigation requesting suspension of work on Sethu-samudram Channel Project (SSCP) was filed in the Supreme Court. The serious situation created by the choice of a channel alignment for SSCP without taking into account the impact of tsunami of the type which struck the coastline of India on December 26, 2004 has worried experts. Ram Sethu in fact saved the coastline of India reducing the impact of the last tsunami. If the present alignment is continued, an enormous impact of a possible next tsunami will be absorbed through this channel and result in the destruction of Kerala, the PIL said.
Further, the creation of an artificial boundary between Sri Lanka and India in the Indian Ocean will adversely impact the livelihood of coastal people who will be prevented from crossing the channel boundary, the PIL alleged.
On March 8, 2005, Prime Minister'sOffice raised 16 objections including the observations of the world-renowned tsunami expert, Prof. Tad S. Murthy of Canada, who has been engaged as an expert by the Government of India to set up a tsunami-warning system in the country. Prof. Murthy is firmly of the opinion that this present alignment will destroy Kerala and most of the coastline of southern India. These concerns and the impact of a tsunami should be subjected to detailed, multi-disciplinary evaluation before work on a channel is resumed using any one of the other five alternative channels available (including the one recommended by GoI steering committee 1996) which will not involve destruction of Ram Sethu. There is also the issue of thorium and other rich mineral deposits close to the Ram Sethu in Kerala thorium sands. The entire region should be subjected to geological exploration to utilise these mineral resources which will have a profound impact on the country'snuclear programme according to the website of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre.
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