‘Grave misadventure’ endangering tribals, ecology: Sonia Gandhi criticises Great Nicobar Project

New Delhi: Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi has strongly criticised the Centre’s Great Nicobar Island Project, calling it a “grave misadventure” that tramples tribal rights, undermines due process, and threatens one of the country’s most fragile ecosystems.

In her op-ed titled ‘The making of an ecological disaster in the Nicobar’ published in a leading daily, Gandhi warned that the “collective conscience cannot and must not stay silent when the very survival of the Shompen and Nicobarese tribes is at risk.”

“Our commitment to future generations cannot permit this large-scale destruction of a most unique ecosystem. We must raise our voice against this travesty of justice and this betrayal of our national values,” she said

Slamming the Centre, Sonia Gandhi, who is also a Congress Rajya Sabha member, alleged that there hasn’t been a shortage of “half-baked and ill-conceived policymaking in the last 11 years.”

“The latest in this series of planned misadventures is the Great Nicobar mega-infrastructure project. The totally misplaced Rs 2,72,000 crore expenditure poses an existential danger to the island’s indigenous tribal communities, threatens one of the world’s most unique flora and fauna ecosystems, and is highly susceptible to natural disasters. Nevertheless, it is being insensitively pushed through, making a mockery of all legal and deliberative processes,” she said.

She emphasised that the island is home to two indigenous communities — the Nicobarese and the Shompen, a particularly vulnerable tribal group.

Sonia Gandhi said the Nicobarese tribals, already displaced by the 2004 Tsunami, face permanent uprooting of their ancestral villages, while the Shompen are at risk of losing their forest ecosystem and cultural integrity.

“Ultimately, the Shompen will find themselves cut off from their ancestral lands and unable to sustain their social and economic existence,” she cautioned.

The CPP Chairperson also alleged that constitutional and statutory safeguards had been ignored.

“As in Article 338-A of the Constitution, the Government should have consulted the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes. It has failed to do so. The Government should have consulted the Tribal Council of Great Nicobar and Little Nicobar Island. Instead, the Council Chairman’s plea that the Nicobarese tribals be allowed to return to their ancestral villages has been neglected,” she said, adding that even the Council’s letter of no objection was “rushed” and later revoked.

The Congress leader argued that the Social Impact Assessment (SIA) conducted under the 2013 Land Acquisition Act had “completely omitted” the Nicobarese and Shompen as stakeholders. She also said the Forest Rights Act (2006), which empowers the Shompen to manage their forests, was ignored.

Raising serious ecological concerns, Sonia Gandhi said the project would result in cutting down a vast swathe of forest.

Citing the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change estimates, she said that 8.5 lakh trees may be cut for this project, which, the Congress MP stated, is a “depressing figure” which also can be a “gross underestimate”. She asserted that independent estimates suggest that 32 lakh to 58 lakh trees may eventually be cut.

Criticising the compensatory afforestation plan, Sonia Gandhi claimed, “Inexplicably, the planned afforestation is in Haryana, a state thousands of kilometres away with a different ecology. In a tragedy bordering on farce, a quarter of this land planned for afforestation has now been auctioned off by the Haryana Government for mining.”

Sonia Gandhi further pointed out that part of the planned port site falls under CRZ 1A, an area where construction is prohibited due to turtle nesting sites and coral reefs.

“Despite abundant evidence confirming the same, including a National Green Tribunal order, the Government has contrived ways to manipulate this truth through a high-powered committee,” Sonia Gandhi alleged, adding that its report has not been made public.

Sonia Gandhi also highlighted concerns flagged by primatologists over the Nicobar long-tailed macaque and questioned the biodiversity assessments, claiming they were conducted under flawed conditions.

“The assessment of sea turtle nesting sites was carried out in the off-season. Drones were used to study dugongs, though they can only assess shallow areas. Institutes were made to conduct these assessments under highly unusual conditions, bordering on duress,” she said.

Underlining the seismic vulnerability of the island, the CPP chief said, “Finally, the project — including the port — is coming up in a seismically sensitive earthquake-prone zone… Locating such a massive project here deliberately jeopardises investment, infrastructure, people and the ecology.”

The project, titled Holistic Development of Great Nicobar, spans over 160 sq km and includes a transhipment port, international airport, township and power plant.

IANS