Environment Minister Defends Great Nicobar Project, Calls Congress Opposition 'Negative Politics'

Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav criticised the Congress for its opposition to the Great Nicobar infrastructure project, calling it "negative politics" and a source of misunderstanding.

According to PTI, Yadav claimed that the massive project is essential for both strategic connectivity in the Indian Ocean Region and national security while speaking at a function hosted by the Public Affairs Forum of India.

According to Yadav, the project will only utilise 1.78 per cent of the forest acreage in Great Nicobar.

"Does the country not even have the right to use this much land for its security, transport capacity and modern technology? Questioning every institution, raising doubts over every developmental effort and writing columns when it comes to national security is nothing but negative politics," he said.

The minister maintained that policies for indigenous tribes have been fully respected and implemented.

"For the indigenous tribes living there, policies have been made and fully implemented. We are committed to protecting the nation's ecology. Moreover, our premier institutions... ZSI, BSI, and WII have prepared management plans, and we have followed them entirely," Yadav said.

He added that ecology and economy should progress together.

"Politics should be for building the nation, not for spreading misinformation. Unfortunately, some people are indulging in the politics of spreading confusion," he said.

Yadav's comments followed Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi's description of the Rs 72,000 crore project in a column in The Hindu as a "planned misadventure" that endangers the survival of the Shompen and Nicobarese tribes, destroys one of the most distinctive ecosystems in the world, and is extremely vulnerable to natural disasters.

Gandhi claimed that "making a mockery of all legal and deliberative processes" was being used to force the project through.

"The ancestral villages of the Nicobarese tribals fall in the project's proposed land area. The Nicobarese were forced to evacuate their villages during the 2004 tsunami. This project will now permanently displace this community, ending its dream of returning to its ancestral villages," Gandhi had said.

Additionally, she contended that the project will attract a large number of visitors to the island and denote a major portion of the Shompen reserve, posing an even larger threat to the residents.

Yadav responded by writing a commentary in the same publication, arguing that the project is important for the country's defence, strategy, and overall well-being.

With an international container transhipment facility, a greenfield international airport, a 450 MVA gas- and solar-based power plant, and a city spanning more than 16 sq km, he said the proposal aims to establish Great Nicobar as a significant hub of marine and air connectivity in the Indian Ocean Region.

The minister emphasised that to minimise ecological effects, comprehensive environmental impact studies, plans for wildlife protection, disaster management techniques, and compensatory afforestation arrangements had been implemented.

Furthermore, he contended that the concerns depicted by the Congress could not be compared with development on less than 2 per cent of the island's total forest cover.

"Even today, 90 per cent of the island remains under forest cover. Compensatory afforestation has to be carried out somewhere, and if it has been done (in Haryana), it also contributes to cleaning Delhi's air. Does the country not even have the right to pursue development on less than two per cent of land?" he said at Thursday's event.

Yadav reiterated that the project is essential for national security, while dismissing Congress's criticism as politically motivated.

"The Great Nicobar project is being implemented with a sense of responsibility and in full compliance with ecological and tribal policies. Raising doubts over it amounts to misleading the people. This is not healthy politics," he said.