Scientists intensify anti-Sethu project stir

NAGAPATTINAM: The protests against the Sethusamudram Canal Project (SSCP) intensified with a forum of technical experts, non-government organisations and fishermen's federation undertaking a day long relay fast here last weekend.

The Movement Against Sethusamudram Canal Project said it would begin another relay fast in Nagapattinam from next week that would culminate in a massive protest rally in Rameshwaram.

M. Jeeva, convener of the movement, emphasised that the organization, "will stick to the scientific premise of our opposition to the SSCP project" which will adversely impact the livelihood of 7,000 coastal communities, according to him.

"It would explain the reasons for its opposition to the SSCP in similar protest programmes across the country, in the wake of several economists also saying it is financially unviable," said Jeeva.

K. Gopalakrishnan, S. Badrinarayanan and K.S. Subramanian, three retired directors general of the Geological Survey of India (GSI), are supporting the movement's initiative and have opposed the canal project.

"NEERI (National Environment Engineering Research Institute) which gave environmental clearance to the SSCP did not consult the GSI on the project and the most crucial geo-evaluation report has not been done for the project," said Gopalakrishnan.

"The destabilisation of the multifarious barrier zones of Adam's bridge (Ram Sethu) will cause submarine land slides, change currents, cause mini-tsunamis, induce earthquakes in the already quake-prone zone and cause coastal inundations", he said.

"Evidences are available which prove that below the sand, this physical feature (Adam's bridge) forms a distinct geological, geo-tectonic, oceanographic and oceanic divide that has got a specific and very important role to play as a barrier in controlling the different geological and oceanographic activities in this highly fragile and sensitive area", the geologist said.

Gopalakrishnan said GSI data shows very hard crystalline rock deep inside Tamil Nadu. And the east coast of Tamil Nadu has hard sedimentary rock under the sand bars and coral reefs. It is not just sand and coral.

"The heat from these sources transmit through the movements along the various fault zones in the area and are manifest in flowing bore-wells of hot water, which are found all over districts around the Palk Bay. This is not seen anywhere else in Tamil Nadu," the expert pointed out.

"The Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar region are therefore most vulnerable to earthquakes as it is a high gravity, high heat low area," the geologists said.

M. Arunachalam, associate professor of environment studies, at the Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, says that SSCP dredging "was causing an ecological upheaval on the ocean floor, mixing turbid water of the Bay of Bengal with clear water of the Gulf of Mannar".

"All the egg-laying areas of marine fauna, nurseries, juvenile feeding fields, all the life on the sea floor, sea grass, algae, everything in the ecosystem is being disturbed.

"As the canal will have to be constantly kept dredged, ecological restoration will never happen if this project continues," he said.

"If the dredging is stopped even now there can be some hope of nature restoring itself over a period of time," Arunachalam said.

According to the project website, the Sethu channel will be 12 metres deep, 300 metres wide and 89 km long. It will be dredged across the Palk Strait to let ships to sail between east and west coasts of India without having to go around Sri Lanka. This, the government says, will save of up to 424 nautical miles (780 km) or 30 hours in sailing time.