07-05-2007, 08:14 PM
<span style='color:red'>Uma Bharti to stage dharna at Rameswaram </span>
Madurai, July 5: Bharatiya Jan Sakthi leader Uma Bharti today said she would stage a dharna at Rameswaram tomorrow and go on a yatra in the town in protest against the ongoing work on the Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project (SSCP).
Speaking to reporters here, she demanded that the Centre get the final report from Geological Survey of India (GSI) on Ramar Sethu (Adam's Bridge) before continuing with the work. A solution should also be found to fishermen's livelihood as they would be unable to fish in that area once the project was completed, she claimed.
She denied Union Shipping Minister T R Baalu's statement that GSI, during her tenure as Union Mines Minister, had opined that Ramar Sethu was a natural formation and not man-made.
"When I was the Union Minister, I evinced interest in knowing more about two heritage sites - tracing the origin of the mythical Saraswati river and Ramar Sethu - and asked the GSI to work on both," she said.
Officials had told her that Adam's Bridge and Ramar Sethu were one and the same and was more than one lakh years old, whereupon she specifically asked them to fix its exact age. When the work was going on, she was made Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister. "I do not know what happened later," she said.
Pointing out that the present alignment was cleared by the UPA government and not the NDA government, she said clearance for such a project could be given only at the highest level. The GSI had not submitted a report to her for approval as alleged by Baalu, she said.
Stating that it was the government's duty to protect the heritage site (Ramar sethu), Uma Bharti demanded that work on it be stopped and that it be protected just like the Taj Mahal. "Even aircraft are not allowed to fly over that area," she said.
Uma Bharti said there would be more economic development if the world were told of the Ramar Sethu 'bridge'. This would bring in lots of tourists, resulting in more economic activity, 'much more than if the SSCP were implemented'.
Asked why she was launching the agitation at such a late stage, she said she was busy facing a series of 'false cases' filed against her in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. (Agencies)
http://www.chennaionline.com/colnews/newsi...ATEGORYNAME=CHN
Madurai, July 5: Bharatiya Jan Sakthi leader Uma Bharti today said she would stage a dharna at Rameswaram tomorrow and go on a yatra in the town in protest against the ongoing work on the Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project (SSCP).
Speaking to reporters here, she demanded that the Centre get the final report from Geological Survey of India (GSI) on Ramar Sethu (Adam's Bridge) before continuing with the work. A solution should also be found to fishermen's livelihood as they would be unable to fish in that area once the project was completed, she claimed.
She denied Union Shipping Minister T R Baalu's statement that GSI, during her tenure as Union Mines Minister, had opined that Ramar Sethu was a natural formation and not man-made.
"When I was the Union Minister, I evinced interest in knowing more about two heritage sites - tracing the origin of the mythical Saraswati river and Ramar Sethu - and asked the GSI to work on both," she said.
Officials had told her that Adam's Bridge and Ramar Sethu were one and the same and was more than one lakh years old, whereupon she specifically asked them to fix its exact age. When the work was going on, she was made Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister. "I do not know what happened later," she said.
Pointing out that the present alignment was cleared by the UPA government and not the NDA government, she said clearance for such a project could be given only at the highest level. The GSI had not submitted a report to her for approval as alleged by Baalu, she said.
Stating that it was the government's duty to protect the heritage site (Ramar sethu), Uma Bharti demanded that work on it be stopped and that it be protected just like the Taj Mahal. "Even aircraft are not allowed to fly over that area," she said.
Uma Bharti said there would be more economic development if the world were told of the Ramar Sethu 'bridge'. This would bring in lots of tourists, resulting in more economic activity, 'much more than if the SSCP were implemented'.
Asked why she was launching the agitation at such a late stage, she said she was busy facing a series of 'false cases' filed against her in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. (Agencies)
http://www.chennaionline.com/colnews/newsi...ATEGORYNAME=CHN