Continuing his tirade against those opposing the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Tuesday said the present alignment cutting through the Adam’s Bridge was approved by the BJP-led NDA Government in 2002.

In a nine-page statement, Karunanidhi wondered why the BJP had not raised the Ram Sethu issue when it was in power. “Why did they not raise the issue when they sanctioned the project in 2002? Would the issue have been raised by them if the project had been implemented under their regime?” he asked. Karunanidhi detailed the various committees that had been constituted since 1860, and the suggestions made by them and the various feasibility studies undertaken for the project since 1955. “But not once was any doubt expressed about the technical feasibility of the Project,” he pointed out.

It was because studies and investigations had revealed nothing about any man-made structure under the sea that neither the NDA Government nor the present Government took steps to declare the so-called Ram Sethu a national heritage site, he added.

He also allayed apprehensions about the fishing community being displaced pointing out that only Government-owned land would be used for the project proposed on 12.5 acres at Dhanushkodi and 2.5 acres at Kodiakarai. “There will be no displacement,” he assured.

In fact, the plans, submitted to the Centre, to reclaim the 1,875 acres of land at Dhanushkodi almost wiped out by the 1964 cyclone, would only benefit the fishing community in Rameshwaram and help develop tourism, he said. The proposal envisages dumping the dredged sediment from the Palk Strait at Dhanushkodi.

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