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        Dandi Swami Sri Vidyananda Bharati has declared in his Demand Notice Petitions to the Government of India and the Government of Tamilnadu arising out of the orders of the Supreme Court dated 29 May 2007 on the Writ Petition (No. 272 of 2007) filed by him before the Supreme Court, that he is spiritually guided by GURUJI Jagadguru Shankaracharya of Jyotishpeeth and Dwarka Sharadapeeth Pujyapad Sri Swarupananda Saraswati-ji Maharaja, and that he belongs to no political party or organization, and that his Writ Petition has been presented to the Supreme Court only and exclusively for the benefit of the masses, which he views as his paramount, sacred, and Fundamental Duty cast upon him by the Constitution of India under Article 51a(g) and 51a(h) of the Indian Constitution.

        In this context all the Hindus of India whole heartedly welcome the heroic statement made and ultimatum given to the following effect to the Government of India by DWARAKA PEETH'S SHANKARACHARYA SWAMI SWAROOPANAND SARASWATI on the overriding public need for the protection of RAM SETU at Narsinghpur, Madhya Pradesh on 7 June, 2007.

“We hereby warn the Government of India that we would launch a massive and unprecedented National agitation from Himalayas to Kanyakumari and from the Rann of Katch to the Bay of Bengal if the decision of the Government of India to demolish and destroy the Ram Setu off Rameshwaram coast is not withdrawn forthwith or at any rate withdrawn within a period of two weeks. The Government of India's callous, cruel, contemptuous and adamant attitude in regard to the matter of Ram Setu is compelling all the people of India, who have faith in our ancient Indian culture, to adopt harsh means to ensure the protection of Ram Setu. By its own policies, divorced from ground level realities, Government of India have created a situation today wherein only those who resort to violent means are heard while those who follow the non-violent path of Mahatma Gandhi are ignored. This is not good for the survival of our democracy”.         Now to turn to the case of Dandi Swami Sri Vidyananda Bharati relating to Ram Setu, In his Demand Petition presented to the Ministry of Environment and Forests in the Government of India and also to the Department of Environment and Forests in the Government of Tamilnadu, Sri Vidyananda Bharati has invited their specific and focussed attention to the fact that the UNESCO has declared the Gulf of Mannar as a protected Biosphere. Taking note of this, both the Government of India and the Government of Tamilnadu have confirmed this declaration of a Biosphere Reserve for the Purposes of the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972.  In view of this, the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve is entitled to the statutory protections contemplated by Chapter IV of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. No permit / permission for activities destructive of wildlife such as those inherent in the “PROJECT” may be granted except in order to protect wildlife.

Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati Shankarackarya of Dwaraka Peeth

       Further, the “PROJECT” involves not only dredging over many square kilometers of the ocean floor but also controlled blasting in the Palk Straits and Gulf of Mannar, which will endanger the flora and fauna of Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve declared by UNESCO to be one of the most important biodiversity hotspots in Asia and declared as such by the Government of India and the State of Tamilnadu. The Gulf of Mannar is home to a number of endangered species such as the dugong (sea cow), the sea horse, sea turtles, whales and dolphins and to endangered habitats such as coral reefs, mangrove forests and sea-grasses that support the species named above. Apart from such serious violations of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, the environmental clearances for the Project under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, have been granted in complete violation of statutory provisions and without taking into account the protective actions recommended by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, a Central Government Agency (“NEERI”), in its Environmental Impact Assessment Report (The “EIA Report”).

        It is very vital to note that the “PROJECT” also involves cutting through the Ram Setu barrier in Palk Straits (situated south east of Rameshwaram near Pamban and connects Talaimanar coast of Sri- Lanka) which is believed to be man made according to highly reputed marine archaeologists, geologists and earth scientists, with its origins stretching back into pre-historic antiquity. No investigation has yet been done to determine whether the Rama Setu structure is eligible and deserving of statutory protection as an ancient monument or an archaeological site under the Ancient Monuments Act, 1958.

        There is considerable scientific evidence available to the effect that the Rama Setu Bridge is man-made. NEERI which was mandated to examine this issue under the existing guidelines of the Ministry of Environment and forests, for unstated and inexplicably mysterious reasons, simply proceeded on the basis that the Ram Setu is not man made. Article 51 A (f) of the Constitution enjoins protection of the cultural heritage of India. Therefore it is the bounden duty and responsibility of the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) to undertake an immediate survey to determine under the Ancient Monuments Act, 1958 as to whether or not the Ram Setu is man made. Dandi Swami Sri Vidyananda Bharati in his Demand Notice Petition to the Ministry of Culture has demanded that the Ministry of Culture should immediately order the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) to undertake an immediate Survey in this regard. As there is adequate scientific, historic, cartographic, epigraphic, numismatic and literary evidence to prove the existence of Ram Setu for countless centuries, it would be proper for the Government of India in the Union Ministry of Culture to request the Union Ministry of Shipping to stop further progress under the “PROJECT” before it destroys Ram Setu forever and to direct the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) as an ancient national monument qualifying for permanent statutory protection under the Ancient Monuments Act, 1958.

        Further, the environmental clearance given by the Union Ministry for Environment and Forests dated 31.03.2005 was totally vitiated on account of its arbitrariness and non-application of mind. One of the most important environmental aspects of the project is the problem of disposal/dumping of the dredged material. The NEERI study report highlighted the fact that dredging would lead to increase in turbidity (i.e., suspended matter in the ocean) at, and in the vicinity of, the site; thereby preventing penetration of sunlight into the water body, which would endanger the survival of marine flora and fauna at and around the site. For these reasons, quick and efficient removal of the dredged material was considered as critical by NEERI. Further, NEERI suggested that the disposal of the dredged material would have to be done in a manner that minimized the likelihood of any adverse impact at the disposal site. On detailed examination and analysis, the EIA study by NEERI recommended that disposal would have to take place both on land, as well as at sea; the clay and silt to be disposed off/dumped on land or to be used to help reclaim land near Pumban island, and the sand to be dumped at suitable sites in the sea, at least 20-25 kilometres from the Gulf of Mannar Marine Biosphere Reserve.

        The NEERI Study Report also recommended that the “Project” be implemented in two phases; the first phase involving dredging the channel upto 10m depth, and the depth being increased to 12m in the second phase only after observing and analysing the environmental impact of the first phase. The NEERI report itself added a word of caution, stating that “the route would become environmentally viable only if the management plans and recommended measures proposed by NEERI are strictly followed”

        This above note of caution given by NEERI has been totally disregarded and ignored by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests while giving its environment clearance on 31.03.2005. Firstly, the recommendation made by NEERI regarding the implementation of the ''PROJECT'' in two phases does not seem to have been considered by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) at all. Secondly the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF), in its clearance dated 31 March, 2005, while laying down a specific condition that “the Environment Management Plan recommended by NEERI should be implemented'' (Specific Condition 'xix'), has, at the same time, categorically prescribed that the ''dredged material will be disposed off in the identified sites in the sea'', and that “no dredged material will be disposed off on land” (specific condition 'I'). This is in clear conflict with the recommendations of NEERI, as well as the Environment Management Plan prepared by it. Clearly, despite the caution sounded by the NEERI itself, this condition laid down in the environmental clearance would itself render the project environmentally non-viable. No reason, much less a detailed or a satisfactory one, has been given by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) for this operational departure from the NEERI's recommendations; showing the total non-application of mind by the MOEF.

        Dandi Swami Sri Vidyananda Bharati in his Demand Notice Petition has invited the attention of the Government of India to the fact that the enormous religious sentiment of the Hindus of India with respect to Ram Setu, sacredly viewed as a creation of Lord Rama and his Vanara army led by Lord Hanuman, has also been intentionally disregarded with supreme contempt by the Government of India at the highest level in general and the Union Ministries of Culture, Environment and Forests and Shipping and Transport of the Government of India in particular. This clearly raises issues under Articles 25 and 26 of the Indian Constitution relating to Freedom of Religious Conscience and Freedom to Manage Religious affairs.