NEW DELHI: Flagging its concerns over the way the government is going ahead with the Great Nicobar Island Development Project, the Congress on Saturday asked the Centre why has the high-powered committee ’s (HPC) report on the project been “kept secret” when the original process for grant of green clearances itself was not classified as “privileged and confidential”.
Raising the question, the party leader and Rajya Sabha member, Jairam Ramesh, wrote to Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav , asking him how can a township focusing on promotion of tourism, a commercial trans-shipment port, and a power plant be suddenly declared as “strategic projects” on which no public debate can take place.
Ramesh was referring to the environment ministry's counter-affidavit in the NGT in which it recently said the clearances granted for the project has not violated the Island Coastal Regulation Zone (ICRZ) notification, 2019 and the Tribunal's orders to revisit the project’s green clearances have been complied with.
"I am shocked that the HPC constituted by the environment ministry in pursuance of the NGT’s directive to review environmental and CRZ clearances did not associate any independent institution or expert when the Tribunal had given it the flexibility to do so," wrote Ramesh, a former Union environment minister.
He pointed out the the HPC has among its members the NITI Aayog that conceived the project; the project proponent Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation (ANIIDCO); a representative of the ministry’s expert appraisal committee that recommended the clearances in the first place; and the ministry that granted the clearances.
“Need I say anything more on the credibility and integrity of the HPC?” asked Ramesh who had earlier detailed exchanges with Yadav on different aspects of the Rs 72,000 crore proposed project that includes plans for trans-shipment port, airport, township and power plant. It would be implemented in a phased manner, in three phases, in a period of almost next 30 years.
Underlining the NGT’s order of April 2023 which stated that slightly over 7 sq kms of the total project area fell in the prohibited zone, Ramesh said, “Now the ministry’s counter-affidavit denies that this is the case. What is the basis of the dramatic U-turn and what confidence can be placed in the new set of facts being presented?”
The ministry has, meanwhile, filed an application with the NGT, seeking a larger bench of six members to hear the pending petitions regarding the project.
Raising the question, the party leader and Rajya Sabha member, Jairam Ramesh, wrote to Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav , asking him how can a township focusing on promotion of tourism, a commercial trans-shipment port, and a power plant be suddenly declared as “strategic projects” on which no public debate can take place.
Ramesh was referring to the environment ministry's counter-affidavit in the NGT in which it recently said the clearances granted for the project has not violated the Island Coastal Regulation Zone (ICRZ) notification, 2019 and the Tribunal's orders to revisit the project’s green clearances have been complied with.
"I am shocked that the HPC constituted by the environment ministry in pursuance of the NGT’s directive to review environmental and CRZ clearances did not associate any independent institution or expert when the Tribunal had given it the flexibility to do so," wrote Ramesh, a former Union environment minister.
He pointed out the the HPC has among its members the NITI Aayog that conceived the project; the project proponent Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation (ANIIDCO); a representative of the ministry’s expert appraisal committee that recommended the clearances in the first place; and the ministry that granted the clearances.
“Need I say anything more on the credibility and integrity of the HPC?” asked Ramesh who had earlier detailed exchanges with Yadav on different aspects of the Rs 72,000 crore proposed project that includes plans for trans-shipment port, airport, township and power plant. It would be implemented in a phased manner, in three phases, in a period of almost next 30 years.
Underlining the NGT’s order of April 2023 which stated that slightly over 7 sq kms of the total project area fell in the prohibited zone, Ramesh said, “Now the ministry’s counter-affidavit denies that this is the case. What is the basis of the dramatic U-turn and what confidence can be placed in the new set of facts being presented?”
The ministry has, meanwhile, filed an application with the NGT, seeking a larger bench of six members to hear the pending petitions regarding the project.
