Right Direction

New Delhi, Nov. 12: Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said the government would go ahead with the Sethusamudram project.

“There is no reason to believe that the project will not be implemented,” he said at the Economic Editors conference.

The project was opposed by the BJP and other Sangh organisations on the ground that it would destroy the bridge built by Lord Rama.

Chidambaram said the objections filed before the courts were against the alignment of a part of the channel.

A public interest litigation has been filed before the Supreme Court, which has asked the government to look into the alignment issue.

“A ten member expert committee has been appointed by the government and the alignment issue will be resolved and the project will be implemented,” he said.

The finance minister’s comment will be sweet music for the DMK, an ally of the Congress-led coalition government. The DMK had demanded that the Centre should go ahead with the project.

Earlier sources said the experts committee received about 20,000 representations, mostly in favour of the project, during the public hearing held in Chennai from October 29 to November 6.

The panel will submit its report to the Centre in the first week of December. Besides the public hearing, the panel also listened to the views of litigants who had moved the Supreme Court against the demolition of the Ram Sethu.

Those who were opposed to the project raised issues such as environmental impact and dredging of the bridge. However, those in favour felt the project would lead to employment generation and an all-round development of coastal Tamil Nadu, the sources added.

On the nuclear deal, Chidambaram said if the pact doesn’t go through, “it would be a loss to the generation capacity of electricity in the country and there would be a huge economic cost in lost opportunity”.

Quoting Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar, he said many nuclear reactors were running at half their capacity because of inadequate fuel. The deal will ensure a steady supply of nuclear fuel from different sources. Chidambaram said it would be difficult to run the Kudankulam plant in Tamil Nadu for lack of fuel. Russia has agreed to supply nuclear reactor for the plant.

For the country to sustain a high level of growth, power generation capacities should be enhanced considerably, he said. The nuclear deal faced stiff opposition from the Left parties. Chidambaram’s statement is significant as the winter session of Parliament is scheduled to begin later this week.