Relevance:
Centre seeks time from SC to respond to plea on Ram Setu. Also, Tamil Nadu assembly recently passed a resolution urging Centre to resume work on Sethusamudram Ship Canal project (SSCP).
About Ram Setu:
- Other Name – Adam’s bridge
- It is a 48-km chain of limestone shoals.
- Location – Between Pamban or Rameswaram Island, off the south-eastern coast of Tamil Nadu, and Mannar Island, off the north-western coast of Sri Lanka.
- Myth –
- While Hindus believe this is the bridge (setu) built by Lord Ram and his army to cross to Lanka and fight Ravan.
- As per Islamic legend, Adam used this bridge to reach Adam’s Peak in Sri Lanka, where he stood on one foot for 1,000 years in repentance.
- Scientists believe Ram Setu is a natural structure formed due to tectonic movements and sand getting trapped in corals.
Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project (SSCP):
- It aims to create a shipping route across the Palk Straits between India and Sri Lanka by building an 83-km-long deep water channel.
- Suggested 2 channels– one across Adam’s Bridge and another through Palk Bay.
- SC, in 2007, had stayed the work for project and Centre was also willing to explore another route to SSCP without damaging Ram Setu.
- Significance –
- Reduce steaming distances between east and west coasts of India.
- Strengthen national security by improving navigation for Indian coast guards and naval ships.
- Concerns –
- Would destroy natural barrier between Bay of Bengal and Palk Bay.
- Oil and marine pollution associated with shipping traffic will aggravate ecological stress in region.
- Adam’s bridge holds religious sentiments for the people.
- Threats to coral reef platforms in Gulf of Mannar.
Reference: Indian Express
