Govt hell-bent on inflicting ecological disaster: Ramesh on Nicobar project

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has written to Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav over the Great Nicobar Island infrastructure project, alleging the high-powered panel tasked to revisit environmental clearances to the project was "biased" in its very composition and did not carry out any meaningful reassessment.

Ramesh also expressed "grave concern" over expressions of interest being invited even as the National Green Tribunal deliberates on petitions before it.

In his letter to Yadav, Ramesh also questioned the credibility, composition, and conclusions of a high-powered committee (HPC) tasked to revisit the environmental clearances granted to the Great Nicobar Island infrastructure project.

"It is also a matter of grave concern that while the NGT deliberates on petitions before it, ANIIDCO has already invited expressions of interest that is a precursor for the clearing of around 65 square km of biodiversity-rich forests. I believe the Government of India is hell-bent on inflicting an ecological and humanitarian disaster on our country," the former environment minister said.

Ramesh cited media reports stating that the ministry has filed a counter affidavit to the NGT's eastern zone bench in which it has said that the clearances granted for the Great Nicobar infrastructure project have not violated the Island Coastal Regulation Zone (ICRZ) notification, 2019 and NGT orders to revisit the project's green clearances have been complied with.

"I read news reports about the counter-affidavit filed by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change in the National Green Tribunal on the Great Nicobar Island Development Project on which we have had detailed exchanges earlier.

"First, I am shocked that the High-Powered Committee (HPC) constituted by the MoEF&CC in pursuance of the NGT's directive to review environmental and CRZ clearances did NOT associate any independent institution or expert when the NGT had given it the flexibility to do so," he said.

"It is truly amazing that the HPC has among its members (i) NITI Aayog that conceived the project; (ii) the project proponent Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation (ANIIDCO);(iii) a representative of the MOEF&CC's Expert Appraisal Committee that recommended the clearances in the first place; and (iv) MOEF&CC that granted the clearances. Need I say anything more on the credibility and integrity of the HPC?" he said.

"The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had clearly diluted the NGT's directive and gave very limited terms of reference to the HPC. As I recall, the NGT gave only 'by way of instance' just three 'unanswered deficiencies'. The terms of reference have been restricted to just these three examples cited by the NGT in its order that led to the constitution of the HPC," he said.

The HPC, howsoever, biased by its very composition, has not carried out any meaningful and comprehensive reassessment as it had been directed to do, he said.

"The HPC's report has been kept secret. I don't understand this: when the original process for grant of clearances itself was not classified as 'privileged and confidential', how can a review, howsoever flawed, and that too mandated by the court be classified thus? How can a township focusing on promotion of tourism, a commercial trans-shipment port and a power plant be suddenly declared as 'strategic projects' on which no public debate can take place?" he said.

"As you well know, the categorization of coastal areas into zones is based on their ecological sensitivity. Construction activities are prohibited in certain zones. According to the NGT's order of April 2023, slightly over 7 square kms of the total project area fell in such a prohibited zone. Now, the MoEF&CC's counter-affidavit denies that this is the case. What is the basis of the dramatic U-turn and what confidence can be placed in the new set of facts being presented?" Ramesh said in his letter dated September 28.

Ramesh and Yadav have had a series of exchanges via letters on the project.

Ramesh on August 27 had hit back at the Environment Ministry's assertion that clearances for the Great Nicobar Island project were granted after careful consideration, saying the Environmental Impact Assessment study for it appears to have been primed to ensure its clearance in the form proposed by the NITI Aayog.

In a 10-page letter to Yadav, Ramesh had said even if one were to accept the strategic and defence importance of the project, it would not preclude any discussion of its impact on the island's tribal communities and natural ecosystem.

"Nobody can be against 'strategic considerations' but surely a better balance between them and ecological concerns can and must be struck which is certainly missing in this case," he said in his communication to Yadav which came in continuation of a series of letter exchanges between the two.

In response to a letter from Ramesh on August 10, Yadav, on August 21, had said the environmental and forest clearances granted by his ministry have "withstood judicial scrutiny".