RAM SETHU - I (SSCP - Project)

What 's the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project (SSCP)?
• Dredging 82 million cubic m of the Palk Strait to build a 167- km long channel which will cut sailing time of ships between east and west coasts by 780 km (nearly 30 hours).
• As of now, ships have to circumnavigate Lanka
• Cost: Rs. 2,427 crore
• Deadline: November 30, 2008
What's the "Ram" controversy?
• Sangh Parivar claims the project will destroy the existing Ram Setu (Adam's Bridge) which, according to the Ramayana, was the bridge that Ram and his army (including Vaanar Sena) built to help him reach Sri Lanka to rescure Sita.
What's the science?
• Geological surveys show that Adam's Bridge is merely compact clay, sandstone and limestone deposited over time. Sedimentation pattern points to sea level fluctuations.
What's the current status of the project?
• 5 dredgers at work in the sea off Rameshwaram in the Palk Bay: 23.16 million cubic m dredged so far
• Palk Strait region: 43.2% dredging done
• In the North of Adam's Bridge area, 24.5% dredged
• "Cutter Section" dredger, required for hard rocky area along Adam's Bridge broke in January. Work resumed again in April but this dredger can be used only from October to mid-May.
What's the trouble over ASI?
• It has told SC that legend or mythological texts can't be seen as "historical record"What's angered the BJP is the next phrase: that this isn't proof of the "existence of characters or events" (Ram etc) depicted in these texts. This led the BJP to say the ASI is "doubting the faith of millions".
• ASI says it has to go by tangible evidence- like it did in the Babri Masjid case where it told the court that excavation at the disputed site shows evidence of features" associated with temples".