The project is further flawed, as it will invade the Gulf of Mannar, which is one of South Asia’s largest biosphere reserves, covering an area of 10,500 square kilometers. 
This area contains a wealth of ecological systems, which consist of terrestrial, coastal and marine flora and fauna. Additionally, there are more than 100 species of corals and thousands of sea turtles and endangered sea animals like dolphins and dugongs that have thrived in the region over the years. Creating shipping lanes will bring in well-known pollution into the area and mankind will loose forever a part of its precious and fragile environment.Dr. Kusum Vyas , Texas, USA (Exclusive to Lanka Guardian)
(October, 02, Texas, Lanka Guardian) Destroying Ram Sethu is unacceptable to any cultured person, without any connection to political identity or ideological stand and there are serious objections to it just as it is inconceivable that a similar systematic destruction would take place in a site of similar importance elsewhere in the world such as the Western Wall or the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.
Many leading environmentalists and scientists say that the Sethu Samudram Shipping Canal Project (SCCP) is a “recipe for disaster” and believe that it is an ill-conceived venture, which has been inaugurated without any detailed review of the impact of a tsunami on the chosen alignment and it has ignored the views expressed by environmentalists, seismologists, oceanographers and apprehensions of people living along the coastline. This raises concerns of the absence of due diligence in preparing a project of such national and international significance and utter disregard for the concerns expressed about the environment.
The project is further flawed, as it will invade the Gulf of Mannar, which is one of South Asia’s largest biosphere reserves, covering an area of 10,500 square kilometers. This area contains a wealth of ecological systems, which consist of terrestrial, coastal and marine flora and fauna. Additionally, there are more than 100 species of corals and thousands of sea turtles and endangered sea animals like dolphins and dugongs that have thrived in the region over the years. Creating shipping lanes will bring in well-known pollution into the area and mankind will loose forever a part of its precious and fragile environment.
The Sethu Samudram Shipping Canal Project (SSCP) has failed to respond to the appeals made by numerous local and international agencies and continues its dredging activities in the area causing massive damage to Ram Sethu and the marine environment. Latest figure from the SSCP website shows 24.45% dredging completed as of this week. At this rate Ram Sethu and the surrounding marine ecology will be destroyed forever in a very short time. This would be a sin not just against nature, but also against our own children.
Mr. Balakrishnan Hariharan, a retired naval officer of India and also a Master Mariner (merchant navy) with 33 years experience has, in his three-part article, provided some invaluable analysis of the project and has raised several key points that expose the inanity of the project.
Balakrishnan feels that the proposed port may be vulnerable to terrorist activities and could be used as a conduit to transport clandestine supplies to other countries in the region. He further argues that major container operators deploying mother-vessels are not likely to use the channel. The difference in time between ships using the channel and those going around Sri Lanka will only be a few hours. Ships would not be able to cruise fast in the channel because they will have to be piloted. And in the grounding of a coal or oil tanker that strays from the alignment or a collision of two ships in the channel “will result in an ecological disaster of unimaginable proportions to the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Bay ”.
Questions have been raised about the costs involved in a project of this magnitude and an apparent lack of transparency in the financial aspects of the project. Specifically, there is no credible analysis of the actual economic benefits from the project versus the costs incurred. These costs include the Rs. 2,400 crore estimated initially which have reportedly gone up to Rs. 4,000 crore. Right from the onset, the economic viability of the project has been questionable. If the channel was planned to reduce the time travelled by ships, it’s only small ships that would be able to cross the channel. Additionally, since the area is not an ‘open seaway’ for ships to safely traverse through the channel, it will be mandatory to embark a ‘pilot’. The pilotage costs of navigating through the canal and certain allied factors, could make the channel most unattractive to the shipping industry.
Several indigenous industries such as the centuries old fishing, pearl and the Shankha may be in danger of being permanently wiped out causing immeasurable hardships amongst the local populations. The fishermen in the area will be hardest hit as they are already experiencing difficulties due to the dredging activities of the SSCP which have driven the fish away from the area.
The SSCP is planned in a cyclone danger area where the constant problem of siltation leads to a loss of sea depth at frequent intervals. Scientists have concluded that the Palk Bay area is one of the FIVE areas, off the Indian coast, where siltation takes place regularly. The environmental factors of cyclonic activity and siltation rates in the Palk Bay area, impinge on shipping safety. Maintenance dredging would need to be undertaken throughout the year to maintain dredged depths which would lead to substantially increasing the costs of the SSCP.
In the light of the foregoing analysis, it is debatable whether the investments made in the construction of the channel are justified from the security, environment or economic standpoints. Most importantly, however, the project will destroy Ram Sethu. Such blatant destruction is both sacrilegious and offensive to the religious sentiments of over a billion Hindus worldwide who look upon Ram Sethu as Sethumandir, a pilgrimage site, a sacred monument and a temple. The campaign to save Ram Sethu needs to rise to a higher level. Responsible people need not stand idly by and allow this sacred monument and our fragile environment to be defiled. It is far too great a resource as is to be mindlessly plundered and ripped apart. Ours is a fragile environment…Global Warming is impacting this environment enough without humans causing additional damage.
The write is a Founder & Coordinator of Save Ram Sethu International Campaign Houston, Texas, USA , E-mail:kusumvyas@sbcglobal.net
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