PMO finds holes in ship canal project, says fix them first

‘‘Had the Sethusamudram shipping canal been operational at the time of this (December) tsunami, the currents in the Palk Bay and the associated turbulence would have damaged the canal considerably and would have caused a wide dispersal of the dredged material placed at seas,’’ stated the PMO note.

Both the DMK and the AIADMK have been pitching for the 152.2 km canal that would bring large ships to Indian shores by dredging the shallow banks in Adam’s Bridge and parts of Palk Bay.

At a cost of Rs 1,500 crores, it would be India’s first effort to dredge a navigational channel that would save ships calling on India’s east coast from going around Sri Lanka that entails an additional distance of 400 nautical miles and 36 hours of ship time.

Now, the PMO wants a fresh evaluation as information about the effects of tsunamis and cyclones on the project were ‘‘incomplete’’ and there were ‘‘huge gaps in the current knowledge about the sedimentation regimes existing in the various micro regions of Palk Bay.’’

‘‘The environment impact assessment and the technical feasibility report prepared by NEERI have ignored these aspects… Going ahead with the construction of this mega project without collecting information on the above aspects could lead to major economic, technical and human problems in future that could border on a disaster,’’ the PMO said.

It has also suggested that clearances from Environment Ministry and the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board be put on hold until there is a proper evaluation of specific issues.

‘‘If the project authority feels that these aspects have been adequately taken care of, they should provide convincing and substantial evidence to that effect that will withstand the scrutiny of the scientific community at large,’’ the note stated.

The canal project faces the problems of sedimentation, cyclonic disturbances and dumping of the dredged sediments which, the PMO says, have not been effectively tackled in the NEERI study.

NEERI neither considered the sediment contribution from the rivers flowing into the Palk Bay or from the previous cyclones, with the result that the study did not pinpoint the source for the 99.4 percent of the sediment volume in the region, it said.

Quoting the meteorological department, the note says that the stretch between Nagapattinam and Pamban was a high-risk zone for cyclones.

‘‘Studies on the pattern of movement of sediments during the cylconic storms are not available at present. However, it is known that these storms have a tendency to transport sediments into Palk Bay from the Nagapattinam coast and from the Gulf of Mannar,’’ it said.

Another problem with the study was that it did not identify the dump sites for dredged materials with the exact locations specified for 8.5 to 9.5 per cent of the material that would be excavated from the Gulf of Mannar.