A seven-member Sethusamudram panel constituted by the Centre to consider suggestions and proposals from the public, on Monday had its first hearing in Chennai with petitioners presenting their views for and against the shipping canal project.Prof S Ramachandran, Vice-Chancellor of Madras University and chairman of Monitoring Committee on Environmental Impact Issues of Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project, told The Indian Express, that six petitioners presented their views before the panel.“Each person was given about 10 minutes time to present his/her views,” he said, adding that a few hundred petitions were also received by post. K Gopalakrishnan, former director of the Geological Survey of India, who presented his 22-page petition before the panel, said: “What I am opposing is the manner in which the project is being hurried through without the geo-technical, geo-environment and geo-thermal studies being carried out.”Ela Pugazhendi, the DMK’s students’ wing leader, backed the project. He said, “Such a project would generate direct and indirect employment for lakhs of youths and should be implemented.”
