Army personal to undertake padayatra against Sethusamudram channel

Bangalore, May 19 (UNI) A senior retired Army official will undertake a 'tapasya' in the form of a padyatra from Chennai to Rameswaram to urge the Central and Tamil Nadu Governments to save, protect and preserve the 'Ram Sethu' as a national heritage.

The Officer, Col Rajan talking to newsmen here took strong exception to the proposed Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project (SSCP) and said that the project, which would destroy the scared Ram Sethu, would not only hurt the religious sentiments of millions of Hindus all over the world but also result in severe nvironmental and ecological damage all along the southern coast line of Tamil Nadu as per renowned experts on environment, ecology, geology and Tsunami.

Col Rajan alleged that SSCP has been undertaken despite A R Mudaliar Committee Report of 1956 clearly stating that any idea of cutting a channel through Ram Sethu should be abandoned because of problems of maintaining a mid ocean channel and the turbalence of the Indian Ocean waters.

"The experts, from all over the world, have opined that execution of SSCP and destruction of Ram Sethu would result in loss of thousands of species of fish and marine life, loss of livelihood of lakhs of fishermen and their families, large scale devasatation and loss of lives during next Tsunami, loss of Thorium deposits vital running of Atomic power plants generating electricity and above all would affect National Security considering the present global and geopolitical situation and insurgency and threat perceptons", said 64 year old Rajan who retired from the Army after serving the nation for more than 30 years.

Col Rajan, who joined the Army in 1963, retired as Additional Chief Engineer in 1996. As a major he commanded an Engineer Construction Company in the Jessore-Khuina Sector during the war for liberation of Bangladesh in December 1971. During the war he had the unique experience of being blasted by an anti-tank mine but most fortuituously remained unscathed.

He planned to cover 25 km a day during his 750 km march to Rameswaram from Chennai.

UNI