When the project was started in 2005, though, it was with the assumption that there was no real bridge between India and Sri Lanka. Project authorities believed they just had to deal with heaps of sand, naturally deposited by the oceans. Ships with huge saw-like cutters and pillar-like spuds were employed to smash these sand bars and cut a channel through the bridge.
As it turned out, there were sand deposits, but these were wedged between hard rocks. An engineer onboard one of the ships said that workers encountered the rock bed at just three fathoms (15ft) beneath sea level. Scientists say this is the kind of information the government should have collected before embarking on the project. “You have to consult scientific organizations about the geo-physical structure. Digging two-three bore wells will not tell you the structure of the area. We have a marine geology division. Why was it not consulted?” asked R. Gopalakrishnan, former director of the Geological Survey of India.
Others asked similar questions when the dredger DCI Aquarius was badly damaged in May this year. Its spud, used to break sand deposits and soft rocks, shattered on impact with the hard rocks on Adam’s Bridge and had to be sent to the Cochin Shipyard dry dock, where it still awaits repairs. “We have not made any effort yet to acquire another spud so far and I don’t know how much these things cost,” said R.V. Rao, Visakhapatnam-based deputy general manager of the state-owned Dredging Corp. of India Ltd (DCI).
The Indian government had purchased DCI Aquarius in 1991 from the Netherlands and while DCI would not reveal its price, similar dredging ships cost about $200,000 (Rs81.2 lakh) in the market today.
According to local fishermen who spend days fishing close to the site, after the spud incident, ships have not done any work on Adam’s Bridge. That’s also in keeping with an order from the Supreme Court, asking that Adam’s Bridge not be damaged until 14 September, when the court will hear the case and decide if the Ram Sethu should be protected. The court passed this order on 31 August in response to a special plea filed by Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy, who told the court of a covert government plan to use explosives to blast the Sethu.
Work in progress
Sethusamudram Corp. Ltd (SCL), the government organization tasked with developing the channel, claims on its website that 43% of the dredging work stands completed and 24% of Ram Sethu or the bridge dredged. However, employees on board the dredger ships say this is not true. “It’s almost as if we have not been dredging at all,” said one of them, who cannot be named because of the gag order.
A local fisherman on the Rameswaram coast. A dredger is seen in the background
When this reporter visited Adam’s Bridge in the last week of August, there was no ship working on it. The sprawling SCL office in Rameshwaram was deserted that afternoon, except for the project manager and two clerks, who sat at empty desks sipping coffee and reading the newspaper.
Srinivas Kannan, general manager, operations, at the company, confirmed that absolutely no work was being done on Adam’s Bridge itself in accordance with the court’s order. “It would be a huge risk for us to do any work there,” he added.
“We are only dredging the ocean bed at other parts of the channel,” he said.