Congress Criticises Great Nicobar Project as Ecological and Humanitarian Disaster
Congress party sharply criticizes the Rs 72,000 crore infrastructure project for the Great Nicobar Island as “a recipe for ecological and humanitarian disaster.” The party demanded the immediate stoppage of the project and called for an independent review panel headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Issues Agitated:
The Great Nicobar Island project includes several big ticket infrastructure projects, such as:
An international-class container transshipment port.
An airport.
A power-generating plant.
A greenfield township and tourist facilities.
It would devastate at least 33,000 acres of pristine tropical forests, said Ramesh while pointing out the ecological cost of the project. More proposals – a cruise terminal, shipbuilding and repair facility, and an export-import port – would similarly destroy another 100 acres of biodiversity-rich forests, he added.
Calls for Accountability
In his post on X, Ramesh said the project would have disastrous ecological fallout, damaging the sensitive ecosystem of the Great Nicobar Island and locally affecting its population. “This is sheer folly multiplying,” he said, calling for a detailed review of the project’s environmental and social impact.
It was hypocrisy, accused Congress when the Modi government was moving ahead with an infrastructure project that is a giant structure in an ecologically sensitive area when the prime minister has, in public declarations, committed to environmental causes.
Historical Opposition
Ramesh said he has written and dispatched letters to the Union Minister of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change regarding all objections on the project. The exchanges publicized show what dangers the project would pose, he said.
He accused the government of not being transparent over its decisions including how the port contracts have been given. “There’s some favoritism involved in all this, obviously,” he charged.
Bigger Picture
The opposition arrives just at the time when the many raise eyebrow marks on this issue of developing without ecological conservation. Critics maintain that this project would, in order to enhance infrastructural development hence economic growth, cause irreparable harm to the special biodiversity of this island, displacing even indigenous communities living in it.
Environmental activists and experts also complained of project environmental compliance and long-term effects on the region.
Recommendations
The Congress demanded that the prime minister halt the project in its tracks and that an independent committee study into the environmental, social, and economic impacts of the project. This way, Ramesh said, sustainability would have been taken care of by having more information-based decisions.
The project over the Great Nicobar Island has caused a controversy over the trade-off between the development and the environmental protection. Since political and environmental lobbies are opposing the project, the government would feel cornered and may be forced to review the plans again shortly.
A balanced growth with economic growth and ecological preservation is of utmost importance to such large and sensitive projects.
Source: Congress, Jairam Ramesh’s statements on X.