Govt sets up Experts committee on Ram sethu issue

New Delhi, Sep 28 (UNI) The Congress-led UPA government has set up a committee consisting of experts and representatives from ministries concerned to go into technical and other details of the controversial Rs 2400-crore Sethusamudram Canal Project in Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu.

Government sources said search for more experts for including in the committee was still continuing.

The government had informed the Supreme Court of such a committee.

The committee comes in the wake of differences within the ruling coalition over the alignment of the Sethusamudram project and the controversy surrounding the affidavit of the Archaeological Survey of India filed before the Supreme Court questioning the existence of Lord Ram or Ram Sethu. Though the controversial affidavit has been withdrawn by the government, the row refuses to die down.

The Congress today welcomed the government move in constituting the committee, and said, "It is obvious that unlike other parties playing politics on the Ram Sethu issue, the Congress takes solid and concrete steps in the public interests, while respecting personal beliefs and sentiments." "In continuation of the prompt and expeditious action already taken by the Congress in rectifying the original affidavit, an internal mechanism has now been set up to look into several technical and other details of the Ram Sethu Project,' AICC Spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi told reporters.

UNI