Rameswaram, Nov 5 (ANI): Transport Minister Nitin
Gadkari has ruled out any possibility of demolishing
the Ram Sethu between Indian coast and Sri Lanka for
construction of Sethusamudram Shipping Channel Project
in Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu. The $560-million project
is intended to shave up to 36 hours off ship journeys
between India's western and eastern coasts. The
previous Congress party-led United Progressive Alliance
(UPA) government had a plan to build a canal through a
bridge-like stretch of sandbanks and rocks between the
Indian coast and Sri Lanka a formation variously known
as Adam's Bridge and Ram Sethu, or Ram's Bridge. Some
Hindus opposed the project, believing the bridge was
built millennia ago by Lord Ram and his army of
monkeys, as described in the Ramayana, a revered
ancient epic. The then government, in its defence, had
stated that the structure was moulded by the ocean.
However, Gadkari, while taking an aerial survey of the
project, said that the bridge will not be demolished
and the BJP-led government will consider alternative
alignments for the construction of the project.
