BJP slams Congress after NGT clears Rs 81,000 cr Great Nicobar project: 'Victory of truth’

The project spans 166 sq km on Great Nicobar Island and entails diversion of about 130 sq km of forest land and felling of nearly one million trees.

• NGT upheld clearance for Rs 81,000-crore Great Nicobar project
• BJP calls tribunal's ruling a victory, slams Congress leaders
• NGT directs strict compliance with safeguards for environment

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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on Tuesday, sharpened its offensive against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi after the National Green Tribunal (NGT) refused to interfere with the environmental clearance granted to the Rs 81,000-crore Great Nicobar mega infrastructure project.

Calling the tribunal's ruling a "victory of truth", the party accused the Congress leadership of attempting to stall a project of strategic and economic importance.

Union Coal and Mines Minister G Kishan Reddy alleged that the Gandhis had worked to derail the initiative. "On directions from international collaborators, the mother-son duo of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have been going to great lengths to derail the Great Nicobar mega infrastructure project," he said, adding that their efforts had "failed once again".

Reddy said India’s heavy dependence on foreign ports for transshipment underscored the need for the project. The proposed development includes an international transshipment terminal, a dual-use civil and military airport, a township and a gas- and solar-based power plant, taking advantage of the island’s proximity to the Malacca Strait.

To be mentioned here, Sonia Gandhi had earlier criticised the project in a newspaper article, describing it as an "ecological disaster" and a "grave misadventure" that, she alleged, undermined tribal rights and legal safeguards.

A six-member special bench of the NGT, headed by Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava, on Monday said it found no “good ground” to interfere with the environmental clearance, noting that “adequate safeguards” had been built into the approval.

The bench, comprising judicial members Justices Dinesh Kumar Singh and Arun Kumar Tyagi, and expert members A. Senthil Vel, Afroz Ahmand and Ishwar Singh, also recognised the “strategic importance of the project” and referred to the findings of a high-powered committee (HPC) constituted under its 2023 directions to re-examine certain aspects of the clearance.

The project spans 166 sq km on Great Nicobar Island and entails diversion of about 130 sq km of forest land and felling of nearly one million trees. It envisages a transshipment port, integrated township, airport and a 450-MVA power plant.

The tribunal disposed of a batch of petitions, including those filed by environmentalist Ashish Kothari, which alleged violations of the Island Coastal Regulation Zone (ICRZ) Notification, 2019, and non-compliance with earlier NGT directions.

Petitioners argued that nearly 700 hectares of the proposed site fell within prohibited ICRZ zones. However, the NGT relied on the findings of the HPC headed by former environment secretary Leena Nandan, which concluded that no part of the project lay within no-development zones.

The Union Environment Ministry had cited confidentiality and strategic concerns in not making the HPC report public. The tribunal accepted the committee’s conclusions as submitted in an affidavit by the Centre.

It also recorded the Centre’s submission that components of port infrastructure falling within CRZ 1A and 1B areas under the draft master plan would be excluded in the revised plan.

The NGT underlined that the government is bound by the conditions imposed in the environmental clearance and must ensure compliance.

The order noted specific measures to protect endemic and endangered species such as the leatherback sea turtle, Nicobar megapode, saltwater crocodile, robber crab and Nicobar macaque.

Furthermore, the tribunal directed the Environment Ministry to ensure that construction and foreshore development do not lead to shoreline erosion or loss of sandy beaches that serve as nesting grounds for turtles and birds.

Citing submissions from the Zoological Survey of India, it observed that no coral reef exists within the core project site and that any scattered coral formations affected would be translocated. Authorities have been directed to ensure coral protection and regeneration through scientific methods.