“There is no transparency about the money,” said Jacob John, an economist at Just Change India and the co-author of an independent report that looks into the economic, ecological and technical viability of the project.
At DCI, R. Rao refused to acknowledge the public’s right to know what was being done with their money. “So what if it’s a public company? We don’t owe anyone an explanation of our daily expenses or our balance sheets. I will not confirm or deny any numbers for you,” he said.
Shipping minister Baalu refused to respond to several calls at his residence and office and did not answer any questions sent by fax. Shipping secretary A.K. Mahapatra’s office refused to acknowledge the receipt of hand-delivered letters.
The project to dredge a channel connecting the Bay of Bengal with the Gulf of Mannar, called the Sethusamudram project, is mired in controversy. In a four-part series, Mint looks at the real issues related to the project. The first part looks at the status of the project as well as the lack of information on all aspects of it including costs, the result of a gag order enforced by the shipping ministry.
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