Experts urge White Paper on Sethusamudram
Scientists and experts urged the Indian Government to table a White
Paper in Parliament on the ‘economic viability, environmental and
ecological sustainability, engineering feasibility and ethical
tenability’ of the controversial Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project (SSCP).
The meet organised by the Coastal Action Network, an umbrella group
for 7,000 villages and fishing federations along Tamil Nadu’s 1,000 km
long coastline, also questioned the security risk of such a canal
project.
The project, started by the Union Government in 2005, involves
dredging a 20-km long, 300-meter wide and 10.7 meter deep channel
between the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Bay, through Adam’s Bridge at a
cost of Rs.2400 billion ($600 million).
The Indian Government estimates that nearly 3,000 ships will use the
channel every year to cut short the travelling distance between the
Chennai port and Kanyakumari (Cape Comorin) to 402 nautical miles from
the present 755 nautical miles.
Retired naval officer and Master Mariner for merchant navy H.
Balakrishnan said: “The SSCP is an open channel and there is a
possibility of the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) setting up
sea mines, which is much cheaper when compared to acquiring
surface-to-surface missiles. It’s enough if just one ship explodes.”
Balakrishnan endorsed Coast Guard Director General Vice-Admiral Rusi
Contractor’s recent remarks that the project ‘poses a threat to the
national security’.
“Contractor is correct. I also analysed it. The project will pose a
threat to national security as there is a piracy threat from Sudan to
the Straits of Malacca and to the South China Sea,” Balakrishnan added.
The LTTE had “a direct bearing on the safety of shipping navigation
through the SSCP,” he said.
“The global ransom rate for one ship today was $100,000,” he said,
adding, “Tigers have displayed considerable ingenuity and daring act in
sea-borne insurgency”.
Mired in religious and environment controversies, the cost of the
project has escalated to Rs.35 billion and the Supreme Court has stayed
the project amid speculation that the Government is unwilling to
continue with it. NewsPost India
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