— Hemant Kumar

Ambala

Setu in-depth

• There are aspects to the Sethusamudram project, in relation to which the issues the BJP, the Congress and the DMK are making of it matter little.

First, ships coming from Europe and Africa will save a maximum of 10 to 12 hours using the proposed canal; but this assumes, quite unrealistically, that the ships will not have to queue up to transit through the channel. In any case the fuel ‘saved’ by a ship will not be sufficient to justify even half the fee the ship-owner will have to pay to use the canal!

Second, the canal will not be deep enough to allow anything bigger than a medium-size trawler through — something pointed out by Navy Chief Suresh Mehta. These two simple facts make the project an absurdly unrealistic venture.

— R.P. Subramanian

Delhi

Being pan-Indian

• A stalwart statesman like Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel carved a whole united India out of all the diverse kingdoms that India was divided into. I am sure he would never have dreamt that at a later date his vision could be fragmented by self-styled regional patriots.

Then how does one justify this theory that time and again raises its head — of Maharashtra for Marathis, or Punjab for Punjabis, etc, when in every Indian state you will find Maharashtrians, Punjabis, Gujaratis, and so on, all living together to eke out a living? It is time to very proudly proclaim instead, ‘India for us all Indians’.

... contd.