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Setu Samudram project has adverse security impact

By :  V. Sundaram


Chennai : Rameswaram Ram Setu Protection Movement (RRSPM) organized an International Seminar on scientific and security aspects of Setu Samudram Channel Project (SSCP) on 12 May, 2007 at Mylapore in Chennai. D Kuppuramu, Advocate and Convenor, Rameswaram Ram Setu Protection Movement (RRSPM) presided over the Seminar. Dr S R Rao, founder of Society of Marine Archaeology in India, who was scheduled to inaugurate the Seminar, could not do so on account of his ill health.

The focus of the international seminar was on scientific and security aspects of Setusamudram Shipping Channel Project (SSCP), with participation by twelve experts. Together with this, we were taken into the mists of history, recounting the social, cultural and spiritual memory of a great hero Sri Rama celebrated in the great epic, Ramayana in many nations of the world.

The contributions made by many scientists and scholars having compiled in a book, titled, 'RAMA SETU' which includes the papers presented in the seminar held on 12 May, 2007 in three sections:

1. Scientific-economic aspects
2. Socio-cultural aspects
3. Security aspects.

SSCP which creates a channel passage in the Indian Ocean has serious security implications and disastrous impact on long-term ecological stability on the coastline of Tamilnadu and Kerala. The adverse impact of the project on the marine resources and on the lives of fisher folk of Tamil Nadu and Kerala who are heavily dependent upon the fishery and aquatic resources of Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay, were highlighted by all the experts who spoke at the Seminar.

Serious lapses in project design of the deep-water channel linking Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean, underscored were that 1) the impact of a tsunami, on national security has not been studied and 2) no tsunami protection measures have been incorporated in the project. Fisher folk in the Southern coastal districts of Tamilnadu are concerned that creating a de-facto international boundary by cutting a channel passage through Rama Setu, under pressure from the US Navy, will prevent the exercise of their historic rights in the Gulf of Mannar/Palk Bay. In this context, the deliberations in the Seminar also specially noted the concerns expressed by 34 Sri Lankan experts in their report to their Foreign Secretary in April 2007, in particular: 'The United Nations Law of the Sea mandates that neighboring States need to be consulted and sufficient safeguards and guarantees provided… Dredging will also reduce the photosynthetic rate, resulting in the collapse of the fishing industry… It is also salient that no maritime archaeology has been conducted on this site. Scientific evidence, in a paper presented by Prof. Senanayake, indicates that 13,000-years ago, the area around the Kalpitiya lagoon, up to Mannar, were forested. Even today, stumps of old trees are found underwater."
 

Survey of India logo: AASETU HIMACHALAM,</br>1767 epitomises the importance of Rama Setu” title=”Survey of India logo: AASETU HIMACHALAM,</br>1767 epitomises the importance of Rama Setu” /><br /> <br />Survey of India logo: AASETU HIMACHALAM,</br>1767 epitomises the importance of Rama Setu </div> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p>The experts who participated and spoke at the Seminar included were D. Kuppuramu, State President, Tamilnadu Bharathiya Meenavar Sangam, and Convenor, Rameswaram Ram Setu Protection Movement (RRSPM), Prof. CSP Iyer, Executive Director, Centre for Marine Analytical Reference and Standards, Trivandrum, Dr Badrinarayanan, Geologist and Consultant National Institute of Ocean Technology, Dr T Satyamurthy, Former Director of Archaeology, Government of Kerala, Justice Parvatha Rao, Retired Judge of Andhra Pradesh High Court, Prof. Madhav Das Nalapat, Professor of Geopolitics in Manipal; Academy of Higher Education, Capt. Balakrishnan Hariharan who had commanded various naval ships during his service in the Indian Navy, V Sundaram, IAS (retired), First Chairman of Tuticorin Port Trust, Dr S Kalyanaraman, Former Senior Executive, Asian Development Bank and Director, Saraswati Research Centre, scholar T V Rangarajan, Secretary of Akhila Bharatiya Itihasa Sankalana Samiti, Tamilnadu. The proceedings covered and discussed the views of Prof Tad S Murthy of Canada (who unable to participate in the Seminar), stressing the dangerous implications of the next tsunami if the present channel alignment is maintained. He had sent a pointed message to the Seminar sounding this note of warning.</p> <p>S R Rao, President, Society for Marine Archaeology in his message to Shri.D.Kuppuramu said: ''Submerged sites and towns as well as ship-wrecks constitute a very important cultural heritage of mankind; which the UNESCO wants the states to explore, list and protect them under a UN convention approved by the U.N. The ICOMOS International committee on Underwater Cultural Heritage (ICUCH) consisting of underwater Archaeologists and others (of which I was a member), has defined what 'Underwater Cultural Heritage' is….. The National Institute of Oceanography in cooperation with ASI should be asked to undertake the survey, listing and protection of important underwater sites and shipwrecks. This work must be undertaken by the Government of India and State Governments as laid down in UN convention on Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage. Ram Sethu must not be damaged but saved and protected''. Col S S Rajan and Sanjay Shirodkar from Bangalore who participated in the seminar and announced their plan of undertaking a Padayatra from Chennai to Rameswaram on 20, May 2007 under the auspices of the Rameswaram Ram Setu Protection Movement (RRSPM).<br />  <br /> D Kuppuramu, Advocate and Convenor of Rameswaram Ram Setu Protection Movement (RRSPM), hails from Sathankulam Village near Ramanathapuram Town. He is a born leader of men with matchless courage and unsurpassed idealism. Under the inspiration of his Guru Athmanathaswami, Zilla Sangchalak (District President) of the RSS in Ramanathapuram District, Kuppuramu became a Swayamsevak in the RSS in 1985. Ever since then, he has been a crusader for Hindu Unity, Hindu Solidarity and Hindu Harmony. In view of this background, Islamic Militants in Ramanathapuram District wanted to murder him and eliminate him from the public scene in 1996 and Kuppuramu escaped from the jaws of death by the grace of God after he was grievously assaulted and attacked at his own residence by an Islamic terrorist called Erwadi Kasim, who had been trained by the ISI in Pakistan.</p> <p>When I asked Kuppuramu what inspired him to join the RSS in 1985, he recalled with swelling pride the beautiful words of Shri. Guruji Golwalkar about his own Guru Dr.Hedgewar: 'Words fail to describe the depth of that pure and selfless love. The boundless affection of the mother's heart, the sleepless care and diligence of the father and the inspiring guidance of the Guru found their culmination in that single bosom. I for one feel it my proud privilege to worship him as my ideal. He is verily my chosen deity.' So was it with Shri. Guruji Golwalkar .So it is with great soldiers for the deathless cause of Sanatana Dharma like D Kuppuramu and more than one crore of Swayamsevaks of the RSS today.<br />  <br /> Dr. Kalyanaraman Ph.D, Director, Saraswati Research Centre Chennai told me: ''We are, after all, products of history, history of a civilizational continuum. One idiom is an abiding and dominant idiom – that of Sri Rama and events and places associated with Sri Rama, who is divine. The immortal words attributed to Sri Rama will remain as long as the earth survives and as long as life exists on earth. Sri Rama said: Jananee janmabhoomishca svargaadapi gariyasi; mother and motherland are greater by far than even heaven (Translation by Aurobindo). These immortal words find a geophysical presence in Rama Setu or Setubandha, a bridge on the motherland''.</p> <p><strong>Ref:</strong> <a href=http://newstodaynet.com/2007sud/may07/1205ss1.htm

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