Bhupender Yadav responds to Jairam's concerns over Great Nicobar project

Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav responded on Sunday to Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh's concerns about the Great Nicobar Mega Infrastructure Project.

In a letter dated August 21, Yadav assured that "exemplary mitigation measures" have been put in place to reduce the environmental impact of the project while considering "strategic, national, and defence interests."

Congress MP Jairam Ramesh, in a post on X on August 8, said that the above-mentioned project envisions a calamitous destruction of forests--home to the Shompen tribe--and a vast array of wildlife--on Great Nicobar Island--for a project that has not gone through the due process of environmental and legal consultations with all stakeholders.

In his reply, Yadav noted that despite the diversion of forest land for the project, 82 per cent of the Great Nicobar area remains under protected forests, eco-sensitive zones, and biosphere reserves, exceeding the standard requirement of maintaining two-thirds of the area under forest cover.

He further explained that due to the unavailability of areas for plantation on the Great Nicobar Island, efforts are being made to plant native species in non-notified forest land, arid landscapes, and urban vicinities, which, according to him, would offer greater ecological benefits.

Jairam had claimed that the compensatory afforestation planned for the project could not compansate is no substitute whatsoever for the loss of natural forests.

The Congress leader also said on X that in view of the numerous violations of due process, legal and constitutional provisions protecting tribal communities, and the project's disproportionate ecological and human cost, they had demanded an immediate suspension of all clearances accorded to the project and the conduct of a thorough impartial review of the proposed project, including by the parliamentary committees concerned.