Expedite implementation of Sethusamudram project: DMK

: DMK today urged the Centre to expedite implementation of the Rs 2,427 crore Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project and welcomed the Union Government's proposal to file a petition against the stay on the work given by the Supreme Court.
"On behalf of DMK, we urge the Centre to take measures to accelerate efforts in order to thwart attempts made by some people to obstruct the project", DMK spokeman and MP T K S Elangovan said in a statement.
He welcomed the recent cabinet decision to file a petition against the Supreme Court stay on implementing the project.
The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs had recently given the nod for the Centre to file an affidavit against the stay.

"Since DMK will get the credit if the project is implemented, various attempts are being made by (Tamil Nadu Chief Minister) Jayalalithaa to stall it and so it is facing obstacles", he said.
Elangovan claimed the project on completion would boost business in Tamil Nadu as cargo handling in ports would get a fillip, besides generating 50,000 direct and indirect jobs.

"Coastal security will also be enhanced and eight crore mandays work will be created each year because of the project."
Sethusamudram project is aimed at constructing a shorter navigational route around India's southern tip by breaching the mythological 'Ram Sethu' bridging the southern tip of the country to Sri Lanka.

The project has been put on hold after petitions were filed in the Supreme Court opposing demolition of Ram Sethu.
Tamil Nadu Government has pleaded with the Supreme Court that the project be scrapped as it would adversely affect marine biodiversity and also that the Centre be directed to declare Ram Sethu as a national monument.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi had formally inaugurated the project during UPA-1 before the project ran into troubled waters.
In July, DMK staged a state-wide demonstration, demanding speedy implementation of the project.