Swamy meets PM on Sethusamudram canal project

New Delhi, May 17 (UNI) Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy today met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and sought steps to declare "Rama Setu" in Rameswaram an ancient monument by the Culture Ministry.

Dr Swamy said in a statement here that he had apprised Dr Singh of the Madras High Court admitting on May 15 two writ petitions filed by him challenging the canal alignment chosen by the UPA government in the Sethu Samudram Canal Project (SSCP) and also seeking ancient monument status to "Rama Setu." "The UPA government has chosen a canal alignment that would necessitate destroying the Rama Setu, believed by hundreds of millions of Hindus, to have been constructed by Nala, Sri Hanuman's architect on the direction of Sri Rama to enable him to cross over to Sri Lanka to rescue his wife Sita." Dr Swamy said he told the Prime Minister that a full description of the Setu construction was in Valmiki's Ramayana.

"That such a formation exists even today after centuries is established by satellite imagery photos taken by the NASA. Moreover, that this formation is constructed, and not a natural geological phenomenon, has been concluded by the Earth Science Department of the government," he said.

He said he brought to the attention of Dr Singh the fact that the SSCP could be implemented at a lower cost and through a shorter canal route, by cutting across the land extending from Rameswaram to Dhanushkodi, as originally suggested by National Environmental Engineering Institute (NEERI) in 1998. This route, he pointed out, would by-pass the Rama Setu.

UNI