BJP slams UPA Govt. for vague stand on Sethusamudram Project

New Delhi, Apr 19 (ANI): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday hit out at the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre for its inept handling of the controversial Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project.

BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said that her party was upset at the manner of the government prolonging executive decisions before the advisory jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.

Commenting on the latest status in this case before the apex court, Sitharaman said it looks as if there is a paralysis in the decision-making of the government.

"This is one example where a decision which could be taken by a government is yet again being pushed to the Supreme Court. We have been repeatedly from the party's side saying that there is a paralysis and executive decisions are also now getting pushed to the advisory jurisdiction of the Supreme Court," said Sitharaman.

"When this matter was already subjudice and therefore if it is in the Supreme Court, we respect it and decision of the court will be honoured, I am sure by everybody but the fact remains that decisions on these matters much before it went to the court I suppose could have handled even by the government," she added.

The Central Government had filed a fresh affidavit in the Supreme Court in 2008 on the project seeking vacation of its interim orders putting on hold any damage to 'Rama Setu' that the Hindus revere as the bridge over which he crossed over to Lanka (present day Sri Lanka).

The court in its interim order had allowed the dredging activity for the project to the extent that it did not in anyway damage the 'Rama Setu' or Adams Bridge.

The row has erupted over government plans to build a canal in an area where Hindus believe their god, Lord Ram, constructed a bridge-like feature eons ago.

The government in 2007 filed the affidavit as it defends its plan to build a canal through a bridge-like stretch of sandbanks and rocks between the Indian coast and Sri Lanka-a formation variously known as Adam's Bridge and Ram Sethu, or Rama's Bridge.

Some Hindus oppose the project, believing the bridge was built millennia ago by Lord Ram and his army of monkeys, as described in the Ramayana, the ancient epic. (ANI)