Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project

The channel would be dredged in the Sethusamudram sea between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka, passing through the limestone shoals of Rama Sethu.

The project involves digging a 44.9-nautical-mile (51.7 mi; 83.2 km) long deepwater channel linking the shallow Palk Strait with the Gulf of Mannar.

[4] Eminent British geographer Major James Rennell surveyed the region in late 18th century; he suggested that a "navigable passage could be maintained by dredging of the Ramisseram [sic]".

[7] Several reviews of the proposals followed until the United Progressive Alliance Government of India headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced the inauguration of the project on 2 July 2005.

[citation needed] In 2008, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appointed Rajendra K. Pachauri as the head of a six-member committee to look at an alternative alignment avoiding the sensitive Rama Sethu stretch.

[9] In 2014, the Modi government decided that the project would be implemented by deepening the Pamban pass which would save the Rama Setu from destruction.

If tariffs are lowered to a point where ships from Africa and Europe will not lose money from using the canal, the IRR of the project falls to 2.6%.

The area is an important fishing ground for Tamil Nadu and the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park is in the vicinity of the proposed project.

They say the planned route would destroy marine life and corals and would impact the trade in conch shells that is worth almost ₹150 crore (US$17 million) a year.

Since the tsunami is a long gravity wave (similar to tides and storm surges) during the diffraction process, the rather wide turn it has to take spared the south Kerala coast.

"[18] On 21 April 2010, the Supreme Court of India decided to delay the project until an Environmental impact analysis on the feasibility of a route through Dhanuskodi instead of Rama's Bridge had been carried out.

Opposition parties are demanding the implementation of the Sethusamudram canal project using one of five alternative alignments considered by the government earlier without damaging Rama's Bridge. The Indian government has constituted nine committees before Independence and five committees after independence, most of which have suggested a land-based alignment across Rameswaram Island . None of them have suggested an alignment across Rama's Bridge. [ 12 ]