Jaya wants Centre to declare Ram Sethu a national monument

Chennai, Mar 29: With the issue of Ram Sethu becoming another bone of contention between the Jayalalithaa-led Tamil Nadu government and the Centre, she has written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to declare Ram Sethu/Adam's Bridge as a national monument.

In the letter, Jayalalithaa has expressed strong objections to the alignment of Sethu Samudram Channel project and said, "I request you to take necessary action to communicate the views of the government of India to the Supreme Court that it would take immediate steps for declaring the site as a national monument. The state government will separately be filing a counter to express its stand."

Several cases are in existence in connection with the Sethu Samudram project in both the Madras High Court and the Supreme Court. Prominent among that is the one filed by Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy with the Supreme Court ordering the central government to hand over the Pachauri report on Ram Sethu to Swamy, who is the petitioner.

The Ram Sethu project involves the dredging of the Palk Strait to facilitate shipping access between the western and eastern coasts instead of circumventing Sri Lanka. The PM-appointed expert committee has made a report to understand the feasibility of building an alternative shipping channel through Dhanuskodi instead of Ram Sethu around the country's southern tip.

According to the Ram Sethu project, the Ram Sethu/Adam's Bridge needs to be broken, which has irked the Hindu community that considers it sacred and revere it as the bridge built by Hindu god, Ram to reach Sri Lanka.

In lieu of the various writ petitions, Jayalalithaa had also filed a writ petition in the apex court in 2007. In her petition, she had sought the Supreme Court's direction to the Central government as well as the Tuticorin Port Trust to declare Ram Sethu as a national monument and prevent any damage to it.

OneIndia News