Mumbai: Even as the government is expected this week to ask for more time to file an affidavit on the cultural significance of Adam’s Bridge (Ram Sethu), the exact status of the Sethusamudram project remains unclear.
The Supreme Court had earlier stayed work on Adam’s Bridge itself, a coral walkway between India and Sri Lanka, but the government had said that work on other parts of the project continued. Hindus believe the bridge was constructed by Ram.
The government’s secrecy and evasiveness have escalated with growing public interest in the project: the project’s website has not been updated for three months; estimates on the amount of work completed ranges from 25% to 75%; questions filed by former government officials and citizen action groups such as the Coastal Action Network under the Right to Information Act remain unanswered; and the shipping ministry, which is in charge of the project, has not lifted its gag order on all government-owned shipping organizations, port authorities and corporations, so few are willing to share any information.
Bridge in question: A satellite image of Adam’s Bridge released by National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the US. The government’s secrecy and evasiveness has increased with growing public interest in the Sethusamudram project.
Even those who are supposed to know give vague replies. For instance, the general manager of Sethusamudram Corp. Ltd, Srinivas Kannan, says he does not know how much money has been spent or exactly how much work has been completed. “We have not been able to update the project status on our website because of technical difficulty. But I know that we have spent at least Rs360 crore. And then there are bills at Palk Straits that have been raised but have not been settled. But I don’t know what those figures are,” Kannan said.
The government is to file an affidavit in the Supreme Court by 16 January explaining the cultural significance of Adam’s Bridge.
It is now expected to ask for more time for the affidavit and the fate of the controversial project is unclear. Even if the government does resolve religious sentiments, it will have to address other issues: continuing financial woes, unanswered questions about economic viability of the project, the loss of livelihood for thousands of fishermen, and the environmental and ecological damage to the marine biosphere in the Gulf of Mannar.
It is anyone’s guess as to when, if at all, the government will be able to resolve these tangled questions.