Hindu leaders demand Ram Sethu not be demolished

New Delhi, May 13 (UNI) Several Hindu religious leaders, including Shankaracharya Swarupanand Saraswati, today reiterated their demand that demolition of the Ram Sethu at Rameshwaram be immediate by stopped and an alternative route for the Rs 2,427 crore Sethusamudram ship channel project be followed.

At a Protest rally held at the Ram Lila grounds here, they demanded that the Sethu not be demolished as it is sacred not only to Hindus but Muslims and Christians as well.

Addressing the rally Mahant Serenderanath 'Avadhoot' said the Sethu was significant from scientific view also and should be preserved.

''The Sethu causeway must have been a major engineering feat for its thin traces are still so clearly visible on the present day satellite images,'' he added.

He said it is the earliest and largest carbon-fiber reinforced civil engineering structure known to man and should be protected.

The leaders said the UPA government must follow the alternate route by digging a canal on the barren land between Dhanushkoti and Rameshwaram or scrap the project.

They said various studies by scientists and experts have proved that the Sethusamudram Project in the present form is not viable and the consequences of destroying it would be disastrous.

The rally was jointly organised by Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha and Akhil Bharatiya Sant Samiti under the banner of newly-formed Shri Ram Sethu Raksha Manch (Delhi).

The Rs 2,427 crore Sethusamudram ship channel project envisages dredging of 167 km channel along the Palk Straits, Palk Bay and Adam's Bridge to connect the Bay of Bengal and Gulf of Mannar between India and Sri Lanka, seeking to reduce the travel time of ships to and from Arabian Sea.

UNI