Sethu work goes on, trial run soon

A trial run of a medium size ship will be undertaken at the Palk Bay, where the Dredging Corporation of India has cleared...

A trial run of a medium size ship will be undertaken at the Palk Bay, where the Dredging Corporation of India has cleared a channel over 10 metres deep as part of the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project, said K Suresh, chairman and managing director of Sethusamudram Corporation.

The Palk Bay stretch, running for about 54-km length, is the only area where the dredging work is going on, after the Supreme Court banned work in Adam Bridge’s area post a controversy.

As per the original plan, the depth of the channel should be 12 metres. As of now, the DCI has achieved an average depth of about 10.5 m, said Suresh. “With the present depth, it is possible for medium sized ships to travel through the channel. We are bringing a ship from Mumbai in a few days to undertake a trial run in the coming week,” he added.

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It will be a dredger ship that is fully laden so that the officials can confirm that freight ships will not be stuck in the channel in the future. The dredging work on this stretch is going on, and will soon reach the proposed 12 metres, Suresh said.

The 167-km shipping channel project that envisages connecting the eastern and western coasts of India without having to traverse Sri Lanka was caught in a controversy, with the saffron parties and social organisations raising questions about the decision to cut through Ram Sethu (Adam’s Bridge), a bridge that took Ram and his army to Lanka according to the Hindu mythology, as well as its economic feasibility, considering only small and medium ships can use this channel due to relatively lesser depth.