Every dimension of Great Nicobar Infra Project has seen ‘malpractice’: Congress

PTI, Aug 19, 2024, 4:08 PM IST

The Congress on Monday cited a media report to allege that it was becoming increasingly clear that every dimension of the Great Nicobar Infra Project had seen “irregularities and malpractice”.

Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh posted an Indian Express report that said residents of Great Nicobar Island who would be affected by land acquisition for the greenfield international airport project had raised demands for a fair and comprehensive compensation package after a social impact assessment report was submitted before the Union Territory administration last month.

The proposed project — part of the Rs 72,000-crore Great Nicobar Infrastructure Project — comprises a transshipment port, greenfield international airport, power plant, township and allied developments.

There are many shortcomings in the social impact assessment conducted in advance of land acquisition for the “ecological and humanitarian disaster” that is the Great Nicobar Infra Project, Ramesh said while citing the report.

It makes no mention of the impact of the project on the Great Nicobarese and the Shompen, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG), he said.

The social impact assessment fails to address the impact of greater population and tourist burden on the island’s strained water resources, Ramesh said.

It does not adequately capture the economic and social effects of displacement on at least 263 families, mostly descended from ex-servicemen, who have been living on the island for many generations now, he said.

“As the months pass, it is becoming increasingly clear that every dimension of this project has seen irregularities and malpractice,” Ramesh said in a post on X.

Asserting that the mega infra project in Great Nicobar Island was a “grave threat” to the natural ecosystem, Ramesh last week urged Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav to suspend all clearances accorded to the project and called for its thorough and impartial review, including by the parliamentary committees concerned.

In a letter to Yadav, Ramesh — a former environment minister — said the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change must fulfil its dharma and not allow itself to be reduced to becoming a project proponent, especially when the project had decidedly “disastrous” human, social and ecological consequences.