Miffed neighbour
Sri Lanka has raised many questions about the Sethusamudram project. About 125 NGOs had submitted a memorandum raising many concerns. "It (the Sethu project) is being implemented according to the unilateral wish and will of the Indian government,' says the memo. It goes on to raise several issues including destruction of biodiversity and breeding grounds of fishes, pollution of the ocean, increased threats of natural disasters and destruction of small islands.
The Indian shipping ministry and the project authorities had held consultations with Sri Lankan government representatives. "A Sri Lankan delegation had visited India in the first week of January 2005. We had explained everything. I was insisting on mutuality and sharing of information. I said I would give them all documents provided they also shared with us what they were doing on their side of Gulf of Mannar. There was no response,' says N K Raghupathy, chairperson of the Sethusamudram Corporation Limited.
More meetings were held in August. "We gave them copies of all the studies and documents, though there was no mutuality once again,' says Raghupathy. "Their main concern was the impact on Colombo port. Once they understood that only the smaller ships would use the canal, and that the bigger mother ships cannot, they were not really concerned,' says Ossie Fernandes, co-convenor, Coastal Action Network. But environmental concerns are not so easily answered.
"Even though the canal shall be in India, its impacts shall not be confined to its territory,' writes Lareef Zubair, coordinator, Sri Lanka Meteorology, Oceanography and Hydrology Network. "Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar are ecosystems that are not adapted to ship traffic. There is a risk of marine pollution, oil spills and risks from ammunition in warships perhaps with nuclear materials