Work on Sethu will go ahead - Indian Shipping Minister

Indian Union Minister of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, T.R. Baalu has said that work on the controversial Sethusamudram project will go ahead.

“More than 60 per cent work in the Palk Straits, separating India and Sri Lanka, is over while dredging near the Adam’s Bridge, a 48- kilometre chain of limestone shoals that once linked Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu to Mannar in Sri Lanka, has been stopped following Supreme Court orders,” Baalu said. He said over 60 billion rupees has been spent on the project.

“Actually as far as Palk Strait is concerned, it is 65-70 per cent complete. Overall, as of now, we have completed 8-9 million cubic meters in Adam’s bridge,” Baalu added.

Earlier, asserting that the project will be completed by November 2008, he said that the first ship that will cross the Adam’s bridge would be flagged off by UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. (ANI)