Sethusamudram: EIA to begin next week

KOCHI:The environment impact assessment (EIA) of the proposed new alignment of the Sethusamudram Shipping Channel project will begin next week.



A team of oceanographers and scientists from the National Institute of Oceanography, Goa, and Kochi will begin data collection as part of the assessment on March 10 from Tuticorin.



The Ministry of Shipping had chosen the institute for carrying out the EIA of the new alignment of the channel between the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Bay.



��The project involves extensive year-round environmental data collection in the Gulf of Mannar, Palk Bay, Adams Bridge and surrounding areas. It is expected that the project will lead to significant improvement in understanding the oceanography of this little studied region, besides determining feasibility of the Sethusamudram canal from the point of view of environment and economics,� according to a communication from the institute.



The institute will focus on generating baseline data regarding land, marine and air parameters related to the project.



The National Environmental Engineering Institute, Nagpur, will focus on the impact of the project over land through which the proposed channel passes, whereas the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, will concentrate on the cost-benefit analysis.



The proposed project had created several controversies with a section of the environmentalists opposing it. The Bharatiya Janata Party had opposed the dredging of Rama Sethu in connection with the project.