No plan to build India-Sri Lanka bridge, says Minister

A senior Sri Lankan cabinet Minister has denied the opposition contention that government has agreed to an Indian proposal to construct a bridge across the Palk Strait from Thalaimannar to Rameswaram.

The Minister of Higher Education, Lakshman Kiriella, told an audience in Kegalle on Friday, that when the Sri Lankan government  has to build so many bridges within the island itself, there is no sense in  building  one to India.

Kiriella charged that the opposition is trying to exploit one issue after the other to discredit the government. Till the other say it was the VAT issue and now it is the “Hanuman Bridge” ( as the Indo-Lanka bridge is called). The opposition is hanging on to “Hanuman’s tail” in sheer desperation, he said.

An observation has reportedly been made by Minister Kabir Hashim to finalise an agreement for building a bridge connecting India and Sri Lanka, Pivithuru Hela Urumaya leader Udaya Gammanpila said earlier.

According to Gammanpila, the observation was made while the minister was responding to a cross question asked by a reporter recently in Indonesia. Earlier, senior opposition leader and MP, Vasudeva Nanayakkara, had also said that when the bridge is built the 60 million Tamils from Tamil Nadu will swamp Lanka.

(With inputs from New Indian Express)