Congress accuses Modi govt of ‘muzzling debate’ on Great Nicobar Project

New Delhi: Congress on Sunday accused the Modi government of “trying to muzzle genuine and much-needed debate” on the Great Nicobar project by “hiding behind” security considerations and demanded a discussion on the issue in a Parliamentary forum.

It claimed that the government is “clearly in damage control mode” after Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Great Nicobar on April 28. He alleged that the  project was “one of the biggest scams and gravest crimes against the natural and tribal heritage of the country”.

The government rebutted his claims in a press note saying it is a “strategic initiative” to strengthen India's presence in the Andaman Sea and it seeks to balance port-led growth with calibrated environmental safeguards. 

In a statement, General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh said the government’s note “did not address any of the serious concerns” raised by local communities, environmentalists, anthropologists, academics and civil society experts.

Flagging ecological concerns among others, he said the government's claim that only 1.82% of the total land of the island group is being used for the project is “irrelevant and misleading”. 

"It ignores the ecological and biological richness of the Great Nicobar ecosystem, which is unique both in the island group and in the world," he said, adding that Galathea Bay, the site of a proposed port, is unequivocally a Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ), where port construction is not allowed.

He said Greater Nicobar is a treasure house where new species are still being discovered and Indian scientists have found 50 new species in the last five years alone from the unexplored forests there.

Finding fault with the proposal for compensatory afforestation in Haryana, he said, “a tree cut in Nicobar can simply not be replaced by two,  five, or even 10 trees planted elsewhere – and especially not in Haryana’s decidedly different semi-arid ecosystem.”

“The claim that rich natural forests lost in Nicobar will be compensated by tree plantation in Haryana is ecologically illiterate. It is a non-logical and non-viable proposition,” he said.

Flagging security concerns about the project, he said less a person than former Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Arun Prakash (Retd) himself has argued that "the security capabilities of ANC (Andaman & Nicobar Command) need to be addressed separately and must have no linkage with the developments contemplated for GNI (Great Nicobar Island)."

"There is thus no need to link India's legitimate security imperatives with the so-called 'development project' - complete with a township, high-end tourist infrastructure, and large transshipment terminal - that the Modi Government is intent on bulldozing through and on which it is now trying to muzzle genuine and much-needed debate hiding behind "security considerations", he said.

"These considerations must, at the very least, be discussed and debated in a Parliamentary forum," he added. 

Ramesh recalled that the Nicobarese Tribal community has expressed concerns multiple times about the project and its impact on their forests, rights, and way of life. In November 2022, he said they withdrew the NoC they had granted for forest diversion saying that they were rushed to sign by concealing the extent of tribal areas to be affected by the project.

"The claims stand even more exposed in the matter of the Shompen, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG), that lives a life of hunting and gathering in the deep forests of Great Nicobar," he said.

The Shompen are a primarily uncontacted community and there are no non-Shompen speakers of their language, he said, adding it is not clear then how the project authorities have taken their informed consent, which is both ethically appropriate and legally mandated.  

He also questioned the financial feasibility of the port and flagged the concerns raised by the government's Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee.