Tamil Nadu Timeline

InfrastructureDMK-AIADMK alternation

Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project inaugurated

· Madurai

Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project inaugurated
This Image was created by User:PlaneMad. If you are using the image under the creative commons share alike license please credit the photo CC-by-sa PlaneMad/Wikimedia and include a link to this page. No explicit permission is needed from me, but id appreciate an email if my work has been of help to you. If you dont want to release your work under a creative commons license, please mail me at arun., CC BY-SA 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched work on a shipping canal between India and Sri Lanka, a project later stalled by the Ram Setu dispute.

The Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project aimed to dredge a navigable channel through the Palk Strait and Gulf of Mannar so that ships would not need to sail around Sri Lanka. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurated the project at Madurai in July 2005, and it was strongly backed by the DMK. Dredging through Adam's Bridge, also known as Ram Setu, was opposed by Hindu groups on religious grounds and by environmentalists and fishermen. Petitions in the Supreme Court halted the work, and the project was not completed.

Related events

  1. 1999

    1. 14 Nov 1999MaduraiAgriculture

      First Uzhavar Sandhai farmers' market opens in Madurai

      Madurai hosted the first market of the DMK government's Uzhavar Sandhai scheme, where farmers could sell their produce straight to buyers.

  2. 2004

    1. 24 Jul 2004MaduraiLaw Justice

      Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court opens

      A permanent bench of the Madras High Court began functioning in Madurai to serve the southern districts.

  3. 2005

    1. 14 Sep 2005MaduraiPolitics

      Vijayakanth founds the DMDK

      Actor Vijayakanth launched the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam at Madurai.

  4. 2007

    1. 2007RameswaramReligion

      Ram Setu affidavit controversy

      A government affidavit telling the Supreme Court there was no historical proof that Adam's Bridge was built by Rama intensified opposition to the Sethusamudram canal.

    2. 9 May 2007MaduraiConflict

      Attack on the Dinakaran office in Madurai

      After Dinakaran ran a survey on Karunanidhi's political heir, its Madurai office was firebombed and three people were killed.

  5. 2011

    1. Sep 2011 to 2014KudankulamProtest

      Protests against the Kudankulam nuclear plant

      Fishing villages around Idinthakarai led a sustained movement against the Kudankulam nuclear plant, which nonetheless began operating in 2013 and 2014.

Open in the timeline explorer