By Amitabh Sinha & Kandula Subramaniamm
Convinced that Adam’s Bridge in the sea between India and Sri Lanka — otherwise known as Ram Sethu — is a natural formation and not a man-made structure, the Ministry of Culture has come out against any involvement of archaeologists during the dredging process in the Sethusamudram Canal Project.
So while it is in complete agreement with the entire report of a government-appointed committee of "eminent persons" on the Sethusamudram project, the Ministry has proposed that one of its suggestions (in Para 10.11 of the report) not be accepted: that of associating archaeologists during the dredging process.
The reason: dredging material cannot be studied "out of its archaeological context" to determine historical value and in view of the "procedural requirements before archaeological work is undertaken under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958."
The 10-member expert committee, which submitted its report to the Government last month, had concluded, as first reported in The Sunday Express, that that there was "no evidence, archaeological or scientific, to prove the existence of any man-made structure". However, it recommended that archaeologists be associated during the dredging work of the project in the Adam’s Bridge area in order to report and recover artefacts and archeological features, if any.
The Culture Ministry’s view on the report was made known during a meeting of the Committee of Secretaries (CoS) on January 3 and 4. After discussing the expert committee’s report, the CoS was of the opinion that the Adam’s Bridge was "clear cut natural stratigraphic of cyclic sedimentation process and not a man-made feature."
The CoS, headed by the Cabinet Secretary, has accordingly recommended that the government accept the report except the suggestion that calls for involving archaeologists during the dredging. The politically-explosive recommendations of the CoS were informally discussed at the Cabinet meeting last week but no decision was taken. "The government is still considering the CoS recommendations," an authoritative source said. With a final decision still awaited, the Centre has made up its mind to ask for more time to file its affidavit when the Sethusamudram case comes up for hearing in the Supreme Court tomorrow.
The members of the expert committee include: S Ramachandran, Chairman of the Monitoring Committee on Environmental Impact Issues for the Sethusamudram Shipping Channel Project and Vice Chancellor of Madras University; S R Wate, Deputy Director, National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur; R K Jain, Managing Director, Indian Ports Association; M. Sakthivel, president of Aqua Culture Foundation of India; R S Sharma, former professor of History, Delhi University; Dilip K. Biswas, former chairman of the Central Pollution Control Board; J R B Alfred, former Director of Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata; P. Jagadeesan, former Vice-Chancellor of Bharatidasan University, Tiruchi; Y. Vaikuntham, former VC of Kakatiya University and K. Paddayya, director, Deccan College, Pune
Source: http://www.indianexpress.com
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