The Rs 2,400-crore Sethusamudram Shipping Channel Project (SSCP), for which the foundation stone was laid by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi in July 2005, has been dogged by controversies right from the outset.

Fishermen in the southern coast of Tamil Nadu were up in arms during a series of public hearings, fearing that the project would affect fish catch and thereby their livelihood.

 Then came litigations from environmentalists that the project would pose a threat to marine biosphere in the Gulf of Mannar, home to some of the rarest of species like sea horses as well as coral reefs. Now that the project is underway, a picture captured by NASA showing an undersea structure off Dhanushkodi has triggered a fresh controversy with BJP saying it’s the bridge Hanuman’s monkey brigade built to enable Ram to go to Lanka to save Sita and the Government claiming that there is no evidence to show that it is a man-made structure.

Steering clear of the faith vs science controversy, the Supreme Court has stayed dredging in the Ram Sethu\Adam’s Bridge area to give time to the Centre to find out whether any alternative alignment is possible. And with the Centre hastily withdrawing two affidavits, including one by the Archeological Survey of India questioning not just the bridge but the historicity of Ram and Ramayana, and agreeing to come back to court within three months on the question of alternative alignment, the issue hangs in the balance. This at a time, when Rs 600 crore has already been spent on the project. Its scheduled completion by December 2008 now remains a question mark.

Link to Lanka
The Sethu project, which has been talked about for nearly a century and over which several experts committees have gone into, was thought of as there is no continuous navigation channel connecting the eastern and western coasts of India.

Currently, ships coming from the west coast of India and other western countries and heading for the east coast of India and also Bangladesh, China etc, have to go around Colombo. The existing waterway is too shallow for ships to move.

This is due to the presence of a shallow region known as Adam’s Bridge, located southeast of Rameswaram near Pamban, which connects the Talimannar coast of Sri Lanka with India. To reduce the steaming distance between the eastern and western coasts and to improve navigation within Indian territorial waters, a navigation channel connecting the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay through north of Adam's Bridge has been envisaged.
The Sethusamudram Corporation claims that once the channel is in place, substantial savings can be had in ship time and bunkering costs. This will directly benefit the shipping industry and EXIM trade. The project will lead to considerable savings and earnings of foreign exchange.

It also argues that the project will improve the international competitiveness of India's exports. Domestic consumers will also benefit with industries producing cheaper goods for the domestic market due to lower cost of raw material imports.

The project will facilitate coastal movement of domestic cargo, leading to greater employment generation in ports and industries in the vicinity. It will provide a shorter navigation route between Kanyakumari and Tuticorin and other east coast ports of chennai, Ennore, Kakinada, Vishakapatnam, Paradip, Haldia and Kolkatta and ports such as Chittagong in neighbouring countries.   Maritime trade in Tamil Nadu, both coastal and international, will flourish.

Development of existing major and minor ports and new ports will accelerate industrial development of the hinterlands, resulting in huge employment opportunities in manufacturing units and service sectors, the authorities claim.

 Indian fishing boats can transit freely though north of Adam's Bridge. This is not possible today. Fishermen will directly benefit due to the potential for development of fishing harbours (between Nagapattinam and Tuticorin) with proper landing and storage facilities.

From national defence and security point of view, it wil enable easier and quicker access between the coasts for the Indian Coast Guard and Naval ships.

 In short, the advantages will be there will be no locks in the channel, there will be a vessel traffic management system and aid for safe navigation, 24-hour navigation, savings in distance and reduced transit time by about one day on an average.      
                                   
 Critics, including ecologists and mariners, however, have a different take on the project. Ultimately, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.