Great Nicobar Infrastructure: Conservationists raise questions on govt's controversial project

New Delhi: Raising more questions on the Great Nicobar Infrastructure Project, over 70 scientists, conservationists and sociologists on Monday wrote to Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav flagging concerns on the “grave and irreversible negative impacts" of the controversial project that the government has been pushing.

They charged the Narendra Modi government of being “disingenuous” to invoke national security whenever questions were raised on a developmental project. It also criticised the Centre for allowing a "handful" of institutions to carry out “biodiversity monitoring”, though the same institutions drafted “illogical, unscientific and baseless” mitigation strategies.

Faced with criticism on the contentious project, the government in recent months has been defending the Great Nicobar infra project citing its importance from a military perspective.

The academics, however, said that the military part of the project – a dual use military cum civilian airport – would cover only 5 per cent of the project area.

The remaining 160 sq km of area is exclusively for a commercial trans-shipment port, an associated power plant and a sprawling township to accommodate 3.5 lakh people who would be settling in the island, whose current population is just about 8,000.

“It is disingenuous to label what is essentially a commercial project as a strategic one and invoke national security whenever questions are raised. This greenfield township, a commercial project, covers more than 80 per cent of the total project area, excluding the defence township of 12.6 sq mt,” they said in a letter to the minister.

The letter comes weeks after Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi slammed the controversial project describing it as an “ecological disaster” in the making - a charge denied by minister Yadav.

The conservationists pointed out that conservation and management plans had proposals like translocation of 20,000 coral colonies and crocodiles from Galathea Bay; creation of artificial enclosures for Megapodes (a bird endemic to Nicobar island) and reduction of the approach path of leatherback and other marine turtles by 10 times.

“These are glaring instances of illogical, unscientific and baseless mitigation strategies. There are similar plans for coconut crabs, macaques, pythons, endemic birds and the management of invasive species. But none of the plans are available on the ministry’s portal nor being provided when sought through the RTI system,” they wrote.

Institutes like Zoological Survey of India, Botanical Survey of India, Wildlife Institute of India and Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History that have prepared such "unscientific and illogical" management plans will also monitor their implementation.

“This does not inspire confidence. This is a glaring conflict of interest,” they wrote.