05-18-2007, 03:27 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The New Indian Express, Friday, May 18, 2007, page 4
<b>Realign Sethu channel: BJP</b> (Express News Service)
'Ramar Setu found confirmation in literary texts, epigraphs and in the reports of the Department of Earth Sciences.'
Chennai, May 17: The State Unit of the BJP on Thursday demanded re-alignment of the Sethusamudram Shipping Channel in the 'interest of national sovereignty, security and livelihood of coastal people'.
Representing the BJP, S. Kalyanaraman, director, Sarasvati Research Centre, told journalists that the project could be implemented by cutting across Dhanushkodi, instead of damaging the Ramar Setu ( Adam's Bridge).
Showing cartographic evidences for the existence of Ramar Setu, he said the computer simulation clearly revealed that the ancient man-made bridge connecting Dhanushkodi and Thalai Mannar in Sri Lanka had saved the southern coastline of the State in the 2004 tsunami.
The present shipping canal project would envisage removal of the proven 'tsunami protector' in Ramar Setu, he added.
The 1956 report on the shipping canal project by Sir AR Mudaliar Committee categorically advised the government to choose a canal and not the mid-ocean channel passage. "The idea of cutting a passage in the sea through Adam's Bridge should be abandoned," he said, quoting from the report.
Besides, the mid-sea channel would affect the livelihood of lakhs of fishermen of both countries, who fished in the 'historic waters'.
After the project, the waters would become 'international waters' as per the designs of the United States.
Ramar Setu was an ancient heritage monument with attested evidences, both textual and scientific, he said, arguing that damage to Ramar Setu would be a violation of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958.
Kalyanaraman also presented the Malabar Bowen Map (1747), Hindoostan under Moghul Empire, a map by Joseph Parks (1788) and the map by James Rennel, first Surveyor General of India in 1804, when the Ramar bridge was renamed as Adam's Bridge.
Ramar Setu also found place in maps showing religious and cultural sites between 8 and 12 AD, Islamic expansion and Puranic India.
The Madras Presidency Administration Report, 1903, referred to the bridge as the one connecting Ceylon and India until 1480.
A book by Alexander Hamilton in 1744 describes his visit to 'zeloan' traversing the bridge on foot, he claimed.
M. Karunanidhi himself, as Chief Minister in 1972, wrote a forword for the Ramanathapuram District Gazetteer, which has reference to Ramar Setu (also called Nala Setu), said L. Ganesan, State President of BJP.
Ramar Setu found confirmation in literary texts, epigraphs and in the reports of the Department of Earth Sciences, he added.
Ganesan, however, ruled out a legal recourse to stop the project, stating that they preferred to take up the issue to the peoples' court
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<b>Realign Sethu channel: BJP</b> (Express News Service)
'Ramar Setu found confirmation in literary texts, epigraphs and in the reports of the Department of Earth Sciences.'
Chennai, May 17: The State Unit of the BJP on Thursday demanded re-alignment of the Sethusamudram Shipping Channel in the 'interest of national sovereignty, security and livelihood of coastal people'.
Representing the BJP, S. Kalyanaraman, director, Sarasvati Research Centre, told journalists that the project could be implemented by cutting across Dhanushkodi, instead of damaging the Ramar Setu ( Adam's Bridge).
Showing cartographic evidences for the existence of Ramar Setu, he said the computer simulation clearly revealed that the ancient man-made bridge connecting Dhanushkodi and Thalai Mannar in Sri Lanka had saved the southern coastline of the State in the 2004 tsunami.
The present shipping canal project would envisage removal of the proven 'tsunami protector' in Ramar Setu, he added.
The 1956 report on the shipping canal project by Sir AR Mudaliar Committee categorically advised the government to choose a canal and not the mid-ocean channel passage. "The idea of cutting a passage in the sea through Adam's Bridge should be abandoned," he said, quoting from the report.
Besides, the mid-sea channel would affect the livelihood of lakhs of fishermen of both countries, who fished in the 'historic waters'.
After the project, the waters would become 'international waters' as per the designs of the United States.
Ramar Setu was an ancient heritage monument with attested evidences, both textual and scientific, he said, arguing that damage to Ramar Setu would be a violation of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958.
Kalyanaraman also presented the Malabar Bowen Map (1747), Hindoostan under Moghul Empire, a map by Joseph Parks (1788) and the map by James Rennel, first Surveyor General of India in 1804, when the Ramar bridge was renamed as Adam's Bridge.
Ramar Setu also found place in maps showing religious and cultural sites between 8 and 12 AD, Islamic expansion and Puranic India.
The Madras Presidency Administration Report, 1903, referred to the bridge as the one connecting Ceylon and India until 1480.
A book by Alexander Hamilton in 1744 describes his visit to 'zeloan' traversing the bridge on foot, he claimed.
M. Karunanidhi himself, as Chief Minister in 1972, wrote a forword for the Ramanathapuram District Gazetteer, which has reference to Ramar Setu (also called Nala Setu), said L. Ganesan, State President of BJP.
Ramar Setu found confirmation in literary texts, epigraphs and in the reports of the Department of Earth Sciences, he added.
Ganesan, however, ruled out a legal recourse to stop the project, stating that they preferred to take up the issue to the peoples' court
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