No tribal will be displaced due to Great Nicobar project, govt tells House

There will be no environmental impact and no tribal will be displaced due to the Great Nicobar project, Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram said in the Rajya Sabha while asserting that the project is important for the country owing to its strategic location.

Oram said this while replying to supplementaries during the question hour after several opposition members raised objections to the minister not giving a written reply to the question on tribals who are expected to be relocated as part of the project.

He said China is sitting in Hambantota (Sri Lanka) while noting that "why should India leave our land".

"This project is very important socio-economically and commercially in the interest of the country. We are merely 40 kms away from the sea route. That is why we cannot leave this," the minister said.

TMC member Saket Gokhale and Congress' Jairam Ramesh asked why the minister has not replied to the question. Gokhale had asked on the action taken on concerns raised by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) over effect of environmental and forest clearances granted for the Great Nicobar project on local tribal communities.

Gokhale also said there are only 229 members of the Shompen tribe living in the world.

Oram said after the Tsunami struck the island, because of low-lying area, several tribals had shifted out.

A high-powered committee has been formed after the NGT decision and work is being carried out as per NGT orders, he informed the House.

"You know me personally as I was behind a company like POSCO. This Narendra Modi government will never go against the tribals. Not even a single tribal is being displaced and there is no impact on the environment. We are moving as per orders of court," he said.

"There is no environmental impact due to this. It is a win-win situation and there are only benefits from this project," the minister asserted.

Oram said he has personally as a tribal minister met the Shompen, Jarawa, Andamanese and Great Andamanese, and held dialogue with them.

"Due to this project, no one will be harmed or will suffer any harm, I assure you," the minister said.

"No one is being displaced. Only 7.144 square kms of tribal reserve land will be used and no one is being displaced due to the project. The gram sabha has also passed the project. Hence the objection is misplaced. The issue is pending with the high court," the minister told the House.

Oram said on August 11, 2016, the department of border management, Ministry of Home Affairs, and seven other ministries held a meeting and decided to undertake the project since this is at a very strategic point on the southern side and is near the international sea route.

Pointing towards opposition members, the minister also claimed that their objection was being deliberately done.

"This project is important for the nation's good. There is no disaster happening due to this," he said.

"We assure that we will examine any objections raised by anthropologists, if any, but no such objections are available to us," he said when Gokhale asked whether the ministry has taken note of objections of a key anthropologist.

Raising the issue, Ramesh claimed, "The Great Nicobar mega infra project is a mega environmental and humanitarian disaster. It's very unfortunate that the answer to this question has not been given because it is claimed that the matter is sub-judice."  He drew the attention of the House to the Chairman's ruling given on July 21, 2023, where he had stated in that "this House is entitled to discuss everything under the planet with one restriction. That restriction relates to Article 121 of the Constitution. What is Article 121 -- the only restriction placed on a discussion in Parliament is the conduct of a judge of a Supreme Court or a High Court. This is the only restriction".

"It is very unfortunate that the answer to this question has not been given and I request that an answer be given at a subsequent date, because this Great Nicobar island project is a recipe for environmental and humanitarian disaster," Ramesh claimed.

Later in a post on X, Ramesh shared his response in the Rajya Sabha, saying, "Today, an important question raised in the Rajya Sabha on the Great Nicobar mega infra project was NOT answered on the grounds that the matter is sub judice. This was my response to this fallacious argument.