SL border stone kept in Adam’s bridge area

Rameswaram: A border stone with the words 'Sri Lanka' inscribed on it and with the Island-government's official emblem on top has been found to have been installed on the seventh of the chain of limestone shoals (islets) in the 'Adams Bridge' area in the shallow seas off Dhansuhkodi, to apparently indicate Sri Lanka's maritime border with India.

'Adams Bridge' or 'Ram Sethu (bridge over the sea)' as found mentioned in the Indian epic 'Ramayana', comprises a chain of limestone shoals surrounded by shallow sea, that was once believed to have interlinked Rameswaram Island in India with Mannar off the northwestern coast of Sri Lanka, it may be recalled. The 30-km long bridge-like structure- whether it was man-made or natural formation is still a point of debate-, separates the Gulf of Mannar from the Palk Strait in the Bay of Bengal near here.

Tamil Nadu fishermen often run into trouble in the ocean waters close to Katchatheevu islet, with the Sri Lankan Navy charging the former with poaching into their territorial waters as the maritime boundary line cannot be clearly demarcated in full.

While India has installed its territorial sign board on the fifth of these chain of islets comprising 'Adams Bridge' off Dhanushkodi, some fishermen of Rameswaram who put out to sea on Friday have now, reportedly for the first time, found that Sri Lanka has put up its border stone on the seventh islet. They returned home and reported the matter to the authorities here, according to M Murugesan, a fisherman who was part of the group who noticed it.(Deccan Chronicle)