New Delhi: Terming the Great Nicobar Infrastructure Project as a “well-planned audacity”, Congress Parliamentary Party President Sonia Gandhi on Monday said it is a threat to the existence of the island’s indigenous tribal communities. She also said that it is being carried out insensitively. This is making a “mockery of all legal and deliberative processes”.
Gandhi said in an article published in ‘The Hindu’ that when the very existence of the Shompen and Nicobari tribes is at stake, the collective conscience cannot and should not remain silent.
“Our commitment to future generations cannot allow such a massive destruction of a very unique ecosystem. We must raise our voice against this travesty of justice and this betrayal of our national values.” She said these things in her article titled ‘Creating an ecological disaster in Nicobar’.
Attacking the Modi government, the former Congress president said there has been no dearth of “half-baked and ill-considered policy-making” in the last 11 years.
“The latest in this series of planned misadventures is the Great Nicobar mega-infrastructure project. This completely ill-conceived expenditure of Rs 72,000 crore poses a threat to the survival of the indigenous tribal communities of the island, threatens one of the most unique flora and fauna ecosystems in the world, and is highly vulnerable to natural disasters,” he said.
“Yet, it is being pushed through in an insensitive manner, making a mockery of all legal and deliberative processes,” Gandhi said.
He pointed out that the Great Nicobar island is home to two indigenous communities, the Nicobari tribe and the Shompen tribe, a particularly vulnerable tribal group.
He said, “The ancestral villages of the Nicobari tribals fall within the proposed land area of this project. The Nicobaris had to leave their villages during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. This project will now permanently displace this community, shattering their dreams of returning to their ancestral villages.”
“The Shompen people face an even greater threat. The island’s Shompen policy, notified by the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs, specifically requires authorities to give priority to the welfare and ‘integrity’ of the tribe while considering ‘large-scale development proposals’.
“Instead, this project de-notifies a large part of the Shompen tribal reserve,” he argued. “This will destroy the forest ecosystems where the Shompen live, and lead to a massive influx of people and tourists to the island.”
Ultimately, the Shompen community will be cut off from their ancestral lands and unable to sustain their social and economic existence, Gandhi said. Yet, the government has been obstinate and stubborn, he added.
Gandhi alleged that the entire process has bypassed constitutional and statutory bodies set up to protect tribal rights.
“As per 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 Islands,” he said. Instead, the council chairman’s appeal that the Nicobari tribals be allowed to return to their ancestral villages was ignored.”
Gandhi further said that the no-objection letter was obtained from the council, but it has now been revoked. The council said officials had “rushed” him to sign the letter.
“Due process and regulatory safeguards set out to protect local communities have been ignored. The Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 should have provided for proper compensation. The Social Impact Assessment (SIA) conducted under the right to transparency should have treated the Nicobarese and Shompen as stakeholders in the process and assessed the impact of the project on them,” he said. Instead, there is no mention of them at all.
“The Forest Rights Act (2006), which gives the Shompen the right to protect, conserve, regulate and manage forests, should have been the basis for any policy action,” he said in the article. Instead, the Shompen have not been consulted on the issue, a fact that has now been confirmed by the tribal council as well.”
“The country’s laws are being blatantly flouted. Unwittingly, one of the country’s most vulnerable groups may pay the ultimate price,” he stressed.
“Ecologically, the project is nothing short of an environmental and humanitarian disaster. The project will require felling of trees on an estimated 15% of the island’s land. This will destroy a nationally and globally unique rainforest ecosystem,” he said.
Gandhi said the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change estimates that 8.5 lakh trees may be felled.
“This is a disappointing figure, but it may be too low. Independent estimates have shown that 32 lakh to 58 lakh trees may eventually be felled,” he added.
He said the government’s solution to this indiscriminate tree felling is “compensatory afforestation”, which is a poor substitute for the loss of natural, old-growth forests.
“Despite abundant evidence confirming this, including an order of the National Green Tribunal, the government has found ways to manipulate this reality through a high-powered committee (HPC).
The report of this HPC and the ground investigation process it conducted to exclude the port site from CRZ 1A have not been made public,” he said.
Gandhi further argued that even from a wildlife perspective, the project raises serious concerns. “Primatologists have written to the government expressing grave concerns about the impact of the project on the Nicobar long-tailed macaque. These concerns have been ignored,” he said.
Gandhi said biodiversity assessments for the projects have come under question because of serious methodological flaws.
“The assessment of sea turtle nesting sites was done after the nesting season. Drones were used to measure the impact of the project on dugongs. However, these drones have limited capabilities and can only assess shallow areas,” he said.
Finally, he pointed out that the project, including the port, is being built in a seismically sensitive and earthquake-prone area.
He further said that deliberately setting up such a huge project here poses a threat to investments, infrastructure, people and ecology.
The project, called ‘Holistic Development of Great Nicobar’, includes the construction of a transshipment port, an international airport, a township and a power plant spread over an area of over 160 square kilometres.
