Uma demands Centre to halt Sethu Samudram Project

Madurai, July 5 (UNI) Demanding the Centre to halt the ongoing Sethu Samudram Project (SSP), Bharatiya Jan Shakti leader and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti today warned the Centre against destroying the Adam's Bridge, also known as ''Ram Sethu''.

The present alignment of the SSP would affect the livelihood of fishermen, resulting in large-scale unemployment, she told newspersons here en-route Rameswaram, where she had planned a satyagraha against the project tomorrow.

She said the ''Ram Sethu'' was not a mere belief but a heritage of Hindu culture, which should be protected.

Asked whether religious belief was used as a tool to block development, she said destruction of heritage for development was unacceptable.

Disputing Union Shipping Minister T R Baalu's assertion that a study by the Geological Survey of India (GSI), ordered when she held the Ministry of Mines and Geology, had exposed the hollowness of the claims over ''Ram Sethu'', Ms Bharti challenged Mr Baalu to make the report public.

UNI