Addressing a press meet here, Mr Baalu said the present alignment of Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project (SSCP) was sanctioned by the previous BJP government and the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) recommended the same alignment in its report.

He said: “As far as our Ministry is concerned, the issue is settled. We shall place before the Supreme Court technical designs and all other materials we have.”

However, “we shall abide by the Supreme Court decision”, he said. Mr Baalu said the project would be completed on schedule by December next year provided the apex court gave a favourable verdict.

Asked about Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK leader M Karunanidhi's comment that his party was not against realignment of the canal to save the bridge, Mr Baalu said he might have made the comment out of anxiety to see that the project was not stalled.

His comments assume significance in view of the Centre's withdrawal of two petitions, including one by the Archeological Survey of India questioning the historicity of not just the Ramar Sethu but even the Ramayana.

Making a plea to BJP and other religious groups opposing the Sethu canal project to stop communalising the issue, he said the SSCP was discussed and scrutinised threadbare from 1999 to 2005 and 14 public hearings were held before the dredging commenced.

The project being  implemented by the UPA was only based on the decisions taken by the then BJP government.
He charged the Opposition parties with planning to incite communal violence. He also reiterated that there was no mention of Ramar Sethu in the Indian map and it was only Adam's Bridge.

“As far as I know, the map was not redrawn for the last 60 years.”  Even the paleography study by the Geological Survey of India found the sediments at Adam's Bridge dating back to five to seven lakh years, he said.
Mr Baalu asked: “The puranic period is segmented to be 17 lakh years ago. How can these two be reconciled?”