Rama Sethu

Recently I was in the book release function of the "Rama Sethu" by Dr Subramanian Swamy at Bridgewater Temple, New Jersey. Incidentally, my husband Ramani was honored at this function by being one of the few people who received the book from the author himself, for the small help he had done some group of people. (I will write a separate blog about this incident - how a small help which we do, serves a greater purpose for others)

Some of the facts that become known to all those who gathered were

1. Economic viability : The project, first thing is that is not economically viable (Dr Swamy has researched and found out that only ships below the 30,000 dead weight tonnage are only permitted to use this channel. As of now the percentage of such low weight ships are only 5% and in few years it is expected to come down drastically). so the number of ships eligible to go through the channel and which has the paying capability is very limited and hence the collectable payment is going to be less and less. The project cost since the estimate has already gone up so much that the debt to be raised is mounting.
2. The estimation of Savings : The main argument in favour of the sethu samudhrum project is the saving of 30 hours of travel time for the ships which is now going around the Srilankan coast to reach the ports up north of the Indian coastal regions and subsequently the saving in the fuel costs. The project states that there will be a reduction of 36 hours and 400 nautical miles. This calculation is further collaborated by L&T Ramboll DPR which claims 335 nautical miles from Kanyakumari and Tuticorin to Chennai, Visakapatnam and Calcutta. All these calculations are done only for the coastal cargo, which is from the southern most part of India to up north starting from Chennai. The project never takes about the non coastal cargo which forms the estimated 65% users of the proposed channel. Dr Swamy has done a wonderful analysis of the time savings and leads the readers to get to the truth of how the saving are supposed to be - for eg for the ships from Africa it is just 5 hours savings and so on for other destination. this is because in the open sea the ships can travel faster, while their speed will be curtailed in the channel. Also, since this is going to be a furrowed channel in the sea bed, a pilot ship is a must to attached to the ships before they enter the channel. so look at the stopping time outside the channel, attaching the pilot and the reduced speed that needs to be maintained within the channel. So the readers can immediately understand that what Dr Swamy says is absolutely correct. Though the distance travelled will be less, the fuel efficiency will not result in high fuel savings which will make the channel to be considered as a viable option for the ship owners.
3. Environmental viability : As of now the Gulf of Mannar which is east of Rameshwaram and the Rama Sethu is a protected gulf in which a lot of very specific species are found. By breaking the Rama Sethu, the Bay of Bengal is now getting connected to the Gulf of Mannar directly. This will led to the foreign species found in the ocean to enter into the Gulf thereby destroying the local species found. In fact Gulf of Mannar was declared as India's first Marine Biosphere Reserve, which is not only the first in India, but also in South and South East Asia. The impact of the proposed construction activity and the allied shipping activity has not been fully studied.
4. National Security : As of now, ships travel around Sri Lanka and so this place doesn't need a greater attention from the Coast Guard. But once the channel is opened, we need to monitor the passage against all the illegal entrants and the security threat becomes higher too and the cost of the maintaining the vigil means extra funds allocation in the National Budget.
5. The breaking of Rama Sethu : This is one point which touches the religious sentiment of the people. Many arguments are that for the sake of development should we still cling on to religious sentiments. Here too Dr Swamy makes the readers see how in our country Secularism is very unique. When there is the consideration of the sentiments of the other religion, the government goes all out to find out the alternate for taking care of the sentiments, but for the Hindus, it is a separate treatment. He has several write ups from Geologists and others persons of immense to prove that the Rama Sethu is an ancient bridge built manually and not an natural formation. He quotes a lot of reference from all languages including Tamil from ancient days where the reference to the bridge built by Rama has been mentioned. One sore point I have with the atheists is when they say that that my belief of Existence of God is nonsense. Who are these people to term my thinking as Non sense and their thinking is sensible. It is up to them to prove the non existence of God and not our responsibility to prove the existence of God as they are ones who claim otherwise.

Then why is the Government making a progress with such huge projects is the question that is left behind. Here is what I always say - if the Government wants to do something, it will find ways and means to get that done irrespective of all considerations. Why cannot the Government apply such hard tactics to do away with the many social issues that plague the country. Let them do good things with such vigour so that they can really claim that they have achieved something great in life. For example, let them eradicate the slums totally and build beautiful houses instead and maintain that too (also ensuring that no new slums spring up near these houses immediately)

I dream for such great days when the common good is the most driving factor for the government.