UPA Government will honour court verdict on Sethusamudram project: Jaiswal

Union Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal has said that the UPA Government will abide by the Supreme Courts verdict on the Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project.

New Delhi, Oct 17 : Union Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal has said that the UPA Government will abide by the Supreme Court's verdict on the Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project.

"There is no contradiction. The matter is in the court, and we will abide by the decision. We are true followers of Ram and have never misused his name or instigated riots," Jaiswal said.

A fresh row erupted last month after the Central Government filed a statement before the Supreme Court on the project, saying that Hinduism's most important texts are not proof of the existence of Hindu gods.

But the Congress party led ruling coalition backtracked on the 'affidavit' the next day and sought three months time from the apex court to file an amended one, following threats of nationwide protests by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Hindu groups have been opposing the 560 million dollar project, saying it would destroy the 'holy' Ram Sethu, a 48-kilometre chain of limestone shoals that once linked Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu to Mannar in Sri Lanka.

According to the Central Government, research has shown that the Ram Setu was a series of sand shoals created by sedimentation, but according to Hindus the narrow link, also known as Adam's Bridge, was built by Lord Rama.

The Sethusamudram Project will dredge a channel in a narrow strip of sea between India and Sri Lanka, reducing distances and cutting costs for freight traffic for ships moving from the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal.

Dredging for the project began in 2005, and the channel -- 12 metres deep, 300 metres wide and almost 90 km long -- will provide a crucial link between the Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar once completed.

ANI