Quickly build Sethusamudram canal, says CPI-M (Lead)
February 12th, 2010 - 4:09 pm ICT by IANS
New Delhi, Feb 12 (IANS) Hundreds of youth activists of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) observed a hunger strike here Friday to demand the early building of a controversial shipping channel to link India’s eastern and western coasts.
The Sethusamudram project will help ships avoid a 785-km detour around Sri Lanka.
CPI-M politburo member Brinda Karat inaugurated the protest organised by the Democratic Youth Federation of India’s (DYFI) Tamil Nadu state unit at Jantar Mantar here.
Karat asked the central government to implement the project “without delay”.
The Rs.242.7 billion ($6 billion) Sethusamudram project plans to provide ships sailing between the east and west coasts of the country with a continuous navigable sea-route through India’s territorial waters.
The project is facing opposition on environmental grounds. There is fear that the channel may result in tsunami waves hitting Tamil Nadu and Kerala more fiercely.
The dredging of Ram Sethu, a mythological bridge built by Lord Ram in the Palk Strait, has been opposed by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
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- Declare Ram Sethu a national monument: Jayalalithaa - Mar 28, 2012
- Government plans environmental study of Sethusamudram channel - Jan 14, 2010
- Centre shies from naming Rama Sethu a national monument - Apr 19, 2012
- CPI-M promises free rice, unemployment dole in Tamil Nadu - Mar 27, 2011
- Restart Sethusamudran project: Karunanidhi - Jun 11, 2009
- No indication of AIADMK supporting Congress: CPI-M - Mar 06, 2011
- Centre says, Rama Sethu not a national monument - Jul 29, 2008
- Achuthanandan not in politburo, Buddhadeb in - Apr 09, 2012
- CPI-M worker lynched in West Bengal - Jan 10, 2011
- Left workers' aid for ailing Congress leader - May 28, 2011
- AIADMK will get absolute majority, says Karat - Apr 06, 2011
- Communist movement won't fail in India: Prakash Karat - Jan 29, 2012
- Sethusamudram canal work will be stopped, says Rajnath Singh - Apr 20, 2009
Tags: bharatiya janata party, communist party of india, communist party of india marxist, democratic youth, dyfi, environmental grounds, hunger strike, lord ram, mantar, palk strait, politburo member, sea route, sethusamudram project, shipping channel, tamil nadu state, tsunami waves, west coasts, western coasts, youth activists, youth federation