Ram Setu: SC grants 4-week to Centre to clarify its stand

New Delhi, Nov 3: The Supreme Court today granted four-week time to the Union Government to clarify its stand on the issue of an alternate route to save the Ram Setu from being destroyed.

A bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan, Justices R V Raveendran and J M Panchal issued the directions on an application filed by Janata Party president and former Union Minister Subramanian Swamy seeking directions to the Centre to scrap the Rs 2,240 crore Sethusamundram project completely in view of the adverse reports of the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO).

According to Dr Swamy, the NIO report has described the project as disaster noting that no proper study of the research has been carried out to assess the adverse effect of the project on the environment in the area.

The apex court had reserved its verdict in July last year awaiting the report of the expert committee, headed by Dr R K Pachauri and appointed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The apex court had suggested to the Union Government as well as the Tamil Nadu government to consider alternative alignment so that the 30-km long Ram Setu, which according to Hindu belief was constructed by Lord Rama to reach Sri Lanka to bring back his wife Sita from the captivity of demon king Ravana, can be saved.

--UNI

(c) 2009 Published with permission from United News of India.
Unauthorised publication of any content from NewKerala.Com is prohibited