Congress slams government over attempt to bring private players into Nicobar project

Jairam Ramesh claimed that the Centre is moving on its ambitious plan to develop the ICTT project, in the Andaman and Nicobar islands, in a public-private partnership (PPP) framework.

New Delhi: The Congress on Friday alleged that the Great Nicobar project is being "bulldozed through" by the Modi government and said it is attempting to bring in private players into the venture at a time when it has refused to disclose key details to the general public on the grounds of national security.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh shared on X a media report which claimed that the Centre is moving on its ambitious plan to develop the Galathea Bay International Container Transshipment Terminal (ICTT) project, in the Andaman and Nicobar islands, in a public-private partnership (PPP) framework.

The former environment minister said the Great Nicobar project is being "bulldozed" through by the Modi government even though there is mounting evidence that it will have "disastrous ecological impacts".

The project has evoked widespread concern, and petitions against the manner in which environmental and other laws have been flouted to push it along are pending in the Calcutta High Court and the National Green Tribunal, Ramesh said on X.

"One of the key reasons for the insistence and persistence of the Modi government has now become evident. The Union Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways has just proposed that the Galathea Bay international container transshipment terminal - which is an essential part of the Great Nicobar project - be developed in public-private partnership mode," he claimed.

"There is absolutely no mystery of which private conglomerate the Ministry has in mind while making this recommendation. This conglomerate already owns and operates 13 ports and terminals in the country apart from being the biggest mover and shaker in the corporate world. All with the PM's blessings," Ramesh said.

It is also notable that the Modi government is attempting to bring in private players into the project at a time when it has refused to disclose key project details to the general public on the grounds of national security, he said.

"It goes to show that the lack of public transparency is a matter of political convenience for the Modi Government," Ramesh said.

The Congress alleged last week that the "ecologically disastrous" Great Nicobar project is being bulldozed through, with petitions being heard in courts and professionals having voiced their concerns, but nothing is making a difference to an "indifferent Modi government".

The former environment minister has repeatedly raised the issue in a series of letters to the minister for environment, forests and climate change.

Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi had also slammed the project and alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government has made a mockery of legal and deliberative processes under the project.

Terming the Great Nicobar infrastructure project a "planned misadventure", Gandhi had said last year that it poses an existential danger to the island's indigenous tribal communities and is being insensitively pushed through, making a "mockery of all legal and deliberative processes".

This was countered by Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav, who had claimed that all clearances were obtained, and defended the project as necessary for the country's development.