Karunanidhi welcomes SC order on SSCP

Chennai, May 22: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi today welcomed the Supreme Court order, refusing to stay the dredging works in the Sethusamudram Shipping Channel Project (SSCP).

Replying to a question here, he said to label the sand shoal in the Palk bay region as man made was 'excessively imaginary.' ''It's a good news'', he said and recalled the remarks made by the Madras High Court, while refusing to grant stay that it was a good project.

Refuting AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa's statement favouring counselling for engineering courses at four centres in the State, he said the idea behind holding counselling in Chennai alone was to ensure transparency following abolition of the common entrance test (CET).

He said as the CET was scrapped, students with same cut-off marks would be in large numbers throughout the State. ''While selecting students having similar marks, all of them should be in one place to ensure transparency. So counselling is being arranged in a single place this year,'' he said and added that the fee for counselling had also been reduced to Rs 200 from Rs 300, considering the travel from distant places to Chennai.

Even after this, if students expressed any displeasure and favoured counselling in four centres as was done last year, the government would not hesitate to do so.

On the Congress-led UPA completing three years in office, Mr Karunanidhi said it had done a very satisfying job. ''I extend my hearty greetings to them.'' He also listed the various welfare works undertaken during the last three years by the UPA, especially in Tamil Nadu, that included SSCP, classical language status for Tamil, automotive testing centre, Salem railway division, broad guage rail routes, Koodankulam Nuclear power plant.

UNI