Interestingly, despite a court stay on dredging four weeks ago, the official website of the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project (SSCP) continues to post details of the current operations, indicating that the dredging is in progress in the Palk Strait and in the area north of Adam%u2019s Bridge. Details of the project status and the quantity dredged have been clearly tabulated until September 13, 2007.
Union Shipping Minister T R Baalu, the protagonist of the Rs 2,427-crore SSCP, who pushed the project through and ensured its formal launch on July 1, 2005, sounded upset when contacted. %u201CI do not wish to comment on the project when it is before the court,%u201D he said. On whether the project was likely to be shelved, he said: %u201CThat is up to the court now.%u201D
Hailed by politicians as a project that would usher in development in Tamil Nadu, the SSCP was the mascot for the DMK and other political parties in the state, both for the Lok Sabha election and the May 2006 Assembly election. While the DMK had promised voters that it would ensure that the project would be launched if it had a say in the Centre in the Lok Sabha election, in the state election last year, the party gloated the SSCP achievement as its own.
%u201CObviously, the election fever has started and the Congress has thought it best to convince those advocating Ram Sethu on the feasibility of the project rather than provoke them. But all this is only going to delay the project and push the deadline for its completion furt
