Rameswaram (TN), Sept 18: Fishermen in the coastal villages of Tamil Nadu’s Rameswaram District have opposed the Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project, claiming the livelihood of lakhs of fishermen is threatened by the project.
Fishermen say the ongoing work on the project is driving away fish, and fear that the ship traffic will only worsen things once the project is completed.

"The Sethusamudram project might be beneficial for the country, but it will only spell loss for us. Our community is not going to derive any benefit whatsoever from the project," said Muniyam, a fisherman.

The project has been in the midst of a controversy, with environmentalists opposing it.

Opposing the 560 million dollars project, some Hindu groups say it would destroy the Ram Sethu, a 48- kilometre chain of limestone shoals that once linked Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu to Mannar in Sri Lanka.

The government recently filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court stating that there was no evidence to prove “the existence of the characters or the occurrence of events” in the Ramayana, which it hurriedly retracted after an uproar by the BJP and the VHP over it.

The Government has sought three months time from the apex court to examine the Sethusamudram project issue.

The apex Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balkrishnan allowed the withdrawl of affidavit and posted the matter for next hearing in the first week of January 2008.

A majority of the locals, who live and work amid scores of Hindu temples across Rameswaram, believe it was blasphemous on part of the government to question mythology.

"The government has deliberately created circumstances that the Ram Setu be demolished. All Hindus are opposing this. An alternative to this has to be worked out," said Kandasami.

According to the Central Government, research has shown that the bridge was a series of sand shoals created by sedimentation.

Union Cultural Minister Ambika Soni had said she was ready to resign over the affidavit row, if asked to by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh or Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi.

Her ministry suspended a director and an assistant director at the Archaeological Survey of India, which prepared the affidavit, while it is investigating what went wrong.

The Sethusamudram Project will dredge a channel in a narrow strip of sea between India and Sri Lanka, reducing distances and cutting costs for freight traffic.

Dredging for the project began in 2005 and the channel -- 12 metres deep, 300 metres wide and almost 90 km long -- will provide a crucial link between the Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar. (With Inputs from ANI)