Date:13/09/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/09/13/stories/2007091354320800.htm

National

‘Rama sethu’: BJP stages rasta roko

Staff Reporter

VISAKHAPATNAM: Traffic on the National Highway (NH-5) at NAD Kotha Road came to a grinding halt on Wednesday morning as the city unit of Bharateeya Janata Party organised a rasta roko in protest against the proposal of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government to demolish the ‘Rama sethu’.

Traffic on either side of the National Highway and also on either side of the Main Road going toward Kancharapalem and Gopalapatnam was held up for about 30 minutes.

Leaders and activists of BJP, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), Akhil Bharateeya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) raised slogans denouncing the proposal to demolish the historical bridge, which connects Rameswaram and Talaimannar in Sri Lanka.

The bridge is believed to have been in use till the 14th Century AD but got submerged under the sea in course of time.

Recent pictures released by the National Aeronautical Space Association (NASA) had indicated the presence of a three km. wide and 30 km. long structure under the water.