Baalu defends Sethusamudram project
Press Trust of India
Monday, January 28, 2008, (Chennai)
Shipping Minister TR Baalu on Monday refuted AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa's charge of Sethusamudram project being unviable as it caters only to small ships and said most vessels visiting Indian ports weigh less than 50,000 tonnes.
Around 79 per cent of vessels visiting Indian ports in 2006-07 were small ones weighing less than 50,000 tonnes.
Of the 20,864 ships that visited 12 ports last year, 16,442 weighed less than 50,000 tonnes, he said in a statement in Chennai in response to Naval Chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta's recent comment that the canal was only fit for small ships.
Baalu said if the project had been completed, all these ships would have passed through the canal, reducing the travel distance by 424 nautical miles and saving time and fuel.
Reacting to Jayalalithaa's demand for his dismissal from the Union Cabinet for allegedly seeking withdrawal of Mehta's comments, he said "let her get back to her acting career, which she is well versed with.
That is the only good she can do to Tamils and Tamil Nadu."
Mehta had last week said it was a "viable project but useful only for small ships and not for large ships plying on the international routes."
Taking objection to Baalu's reported letter to Defence Minister AK Antony against Mehta's remarks, Jayalalithaa had said no minister had the authority to write directly to a fellow minister about an officer in the department.
Only the Cabinet or the Prime Minister had the authority to intervene in such issues, she had said.
Baalu said "it is a shame on the part of Jayalalithaa, who made her friend (Sasikala) to sit on the chair of the Speaker in the state Assembly, to talk about the government's code of conduct."