Serious repercussions if Ram Setu demolished: Swarupananda

Nagpur, May 28 (UNI) Jagadguru Shankaracharya Swami Swarupananda Saraswati has warned the Centre of repercussions, serious than Nandigram, if they demolished the historic Ram Setu (Adam's Bridge) for the Sethusamudram Canal Project (SSCP).

Speaking to newspersons here yesterday, Swami Swarupananda said the Shankaracharyas of the four 'Peeths' had given a week-long ultimatum to the Centre to call off the project. The seers would chalk out the future course of action if the government did not concede the demand, he added.

The Swami indicated that an agitation could be launched if the project was not shelved. ''The recent Nandigram episode has shown that the government takes people seriously only after they take to the streets. It is our desire that the government should heed everyone's sentiments and abandon the plans before people take to the streets,'' he said.

He said the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) was deliberately dragging its feet on the Ram Setu issue as they wanted to derive political mileage out of it.

Any attempt to harm the Ram Setu ought to be opposed as it would hurt the sentiments of millions of Hindus and would also upset the delicate ecological and climatic balance in the area, the Swami said.

Experts feared that damage to the structure would result in deadly tsunamis in south India, he said.

The project envisages linking Palk Strait and the Gulf of Mannar by making a shipping canal through Rameshwaram, thus enabling ships to save 16 hours of voyage of 400 nautical miles around Sri Lanka and fuel worth crores of rupees every year.

UNI