The Government will try to develop the Sethusamudram shipping canal project without breaking the ‘Ram Setu’. It will also ensure that fisherfolk in the area are not affected by the project, Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari said in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.

Replying to a supplementary during Question Hour, Gadkari said he had received some ‘protest reports’ on the issue, but since the matter was sub judice, the Government was working out certain “alternatives” and would apprise the Supreme Court on the matter.

As principal Opposition party last year, the BJP had demanded scrapping of the Sethusamudram project, saying it would not tolerate any ‘tampering’ with the ‘Ram Setu’ (known as Adam’s Bridge), around which it claimed that the “sentiments of crores of Hindus are attached”.

The BJP’s 2014 election manifesto also terms the Ram Setu as part of “our cultural heritage and also of strategic importance due to its vast thorium deposits.” The manifesto adds that these facts would be taken into consideration while taking any decision on the project.

The Rs 2,427-crore Sethusamudram project plans to create a shorter shipping route by dredging a channel across the Palk Straits between India and Sri Lanka. The Government has already spent over Rs 800 crore on the project, work on which came to a halt in 2009 after got caught in a political controversy.

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