SETHUSAMUDRAM : A lost Project

The Sethusamudram Project is a long-delayed initiative to create a maritime canal connecting India and Sri Lanka across the Palk Strait.

The necessity for such a waterway stems from the following factors:

1. The waterways between India and Sri Lanka, known as the Sethusamudram (Sethu -bridge, Samudram — sea), are shallow and unsuitable for large ships, and maritime commerce connections between the two countries frequently rely on smaller vessels.

2. Ships sailing from India’s west coast to its east coast must now circumnavigate Sri Lanka due to the small, shallow, non-navigable Gulf of Mannar. The parties in favour of the bridge’s construction anticipate significant financial savings. Furthermore, commercial ships’s vulnerability to military aggression is likely to decrease. The canal is anticipated to cut travel time, fuel consumption, and therefore expenses.

3. It is also envisioned as a massive job-creation potential that will raise revenues while also elevating people’s status. Given the projected canal’s location, strategic military significance is plausible.Ships going towards India’s east coast must now circumnavigate the whole island of Sri Lanka in order to reach Tuticorin, Chennai, Vizag, Paradip, and other ports.

4. If the project is completed successfully, it will reduce travel by about 350 nautical miles and save 10 to 30 hours of sailing time. Plans were also developed for the development of 13 smaller ports in India, as well as fishing harbours and other infrastructure in both India and Sri Lanka.

5. The project entails significant dredging and removal of the limestone shoals to create an 83-kilometer-long deepwater canal that will connect Mannar to Palk Strait. It would reduce shipping costs while adding to India’s revenue in the form of transit fees. Some environmentalists opposed it, claiming that it would damage and destabilise the area’s aquatic vegetation and fauna. With foreign growing influence in Sri Lanka, India has to investigate alternate maritime routes, making the project more appealing.

6. The alignment of the proposed bridge , has invariably required some amount of damage to the adam’s bridge and it said that , God , Ram has built this bridge to enable the army to cross over to lanka , get rid of ravan . Needless to say, from the outset , religious sentiments have risen to vehemently stop the wheels of motion every time the topic is brought up .