Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Monday launched a sharp attack on the government over the ₹72,000-crore Great Nicobar infrastructure project, terming it a “planned misadventure” that threatens the survival of indigenous tribes and devastates one of the world’s most unique ecosystems.
In an article published in The Hindu, Gandhi said the project “poses an existential danger” to the Nicobarese and Shompen tribes and is being pushed through “insensitively, making a mockery of all legal and deliberative processes.” She warned that the Shompen tribal reserve is being denotified, the Nicobarese risk permanent displacement, and lakhs of trees face destruction in a rainforest ecosystem already vulnerable to seismic risks.
Calling the project an “environmental and humanitarian catastrophe,” Gandhi alleged that constitutional safeguards, including the Forest Rights Act and consultation with the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, were ignored. She also pointed out that estimates suggest between 8.5 lakh and 58 lakh trees could be cut, while biodiversity assessments were flawed and key wildlife concerns, including those over sea turtles and Nicobar macaques, were dismissed.
“The country’s laws are being mocked wholesale, and one of its most vulnerable groups may have to pay the ultimate price,” Gandhi wrote, urging people to oppose the project.
Her remarks follow similar objections by Rahul Gandhi and Jairam Ramesh, who have accused the government of disregarding tribal rights and ecological balance in pursuit of the “Holistic Development of Great Nicobar” project, which includes a transhipment port, international airport, township, and power plant over 160 sq km.
