The committee under the Chairmanship of Shri H.R. Lakshminarayan Development Advisor (Ports) was constituted in the year 1981. The committee collected the opinions and representations of the leading public, industrialists and Government officials of the State. All of them unanimously urged the Government to take up the scheme immediately. The prominent citizens of the Rameswaram island represented that the canal would serve better if located to the east of Rameswaram town as far as possible, as it would otherwise affect the movement of the pilgrims of the temple town. After detailed investigations a new alignment was proposed across Dhanushkodi, 1km. west of Kodandaramasamy Temple across the narrow land strip known as the %u2018K%u2019 alignment. The committee also appointed a Navigational Expert Group to finalize the bottom width of the channel and the under keel clearance. The committee recommended construction of two channels called the south and north channels and also construction of a lock in the land portion connecting both the channels.
The salient features of the scheme were as under :-
