The Centre has informed the Supreme Court that it intends to go ahead with the Rs.25,000 crore Sethusamudram shipping channel project, which raised a political storm after it was revealed that the mythical Ram Sethu would face dredging.
After the controversy over the Centre’s affidavit in 2007 doubting the existence of Ramayana and Ram, PM Manmohan Singh had appointed an expert group led by environmentalist R K Pachauri to study the economic and ecological viability of the planned shipping route and the alternative alignment. The expert panel said that “neither alignment 4A (the alternative one) nor alignment 6 meet the benchmark Internal Rate Return of 12% for the range of scenarios examined”. It said it would be difficult to rule out oil spills, even with stringent measures.
“In conclusion, the Pachauri committee has found the project unviable both from the economic as well as the ecological angles,” the Centre said in its affidavit. But. it said the government approved and commenced implementation of the project based on well researched technical studies. It cited favourable reports of the National Environment Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) and Committee of Eminent Persons.
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