Well I believe the Sethu Samudram project is still in the same spirit as Bharathiyar's paadal and a hell of a lot more eco friendly than filling it up to make a road :)
friends there is no politics whatsoever involved in my opinion
you cannot build a construction within 500 metres of high tide line( the farthest the waves can come) that is because it will damage the environment of the sea
there are islands in the palk strait where humans are not allowed saying that we would damage the ecology of the area.
what we are going to do right now is create a canal on the bed of the sea and throw all that solid over a larger area. definitely the geography and chemistry of the sea surface will change, thus altering the under sea flora and fauna.
did the government do a fair environmental study on this?
Regarding Sethusamudhram project, here are some of the points which I have read in "Thuglak" some time back. I need to know whether these facts are correct or not ?
a) When the project was conceived (approximately 140 years back), actual tonnage of vessels plying were very low. b) Now, this project is being aimed to increase the depth of sea so that vessels upto tonnage of 25000 tonnes can use this canal. c) However, there are very, very few commercial bulk carriers, tankers, container vessels which have tonnage less than 25000 tonnes ply around the world. d) As a matter of fact, even Shipping companies in India are having vessels more than 25000 tonnes and minimum size is on the upside only. e) The estimated cost is around Rs.2400 crores and expected to be completed in 30 months time. Hopefully, the total cost should not exceed Rs4000 crores (even assuming delay and inflation !) f) To recover the above project costs, there are plans to recover as below:
1) A ship shall be charged Rs.13000 per trip to use the canal. (This is required since pilot boats are required for guiding the main ships along the canal). 2) The above tariff would put enormous pressure on government to get the moneyback from this project.
All the above points are purely based on commercial aspects and adding to the above are various ecological issues which I feel that we should not play with our MOTHER NATURE.
If what you say is right (about the tonnage of the vehicles etc), I wonder if this might not be part of the greater national interest for defense purposes. I am sure the navy has a number of shi[s/boats below the tonnage which would use that.
The amount quoted for navigating seemsto be an error.I read some where that it will cost about 30lakhs per trip. Madras Musings july 16-31 ,2005 issue bears an article on this.The problems are: will heavy dredging and increased maritime traffic disrupt sea currens,set up sea errosion and threaten the fragile coastline of gulf of mannar?
Will the canal help or hinder smuggling,terrorist and antinational activities? Can the damaged coral reef be restored?corals are developed over a period of 100-200 years. What is damaged is gone for good.Will that be the case heretoo? Can asunami effect affect the Sethu project? Though the dec2004 tsunami had no effect some 40years ago a sunami like wave 20/30 feet high washed away a train
and much more .Let the Govt make independant analysis with out emotion