A parliamentary committee on Wednesday sought a report from the Union home ministry on the ecological impact of the Great Nicobar project on the islands, The Indian Express reported.
The chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Congress MP KC Venugopal, asked Home Secretary Govind Mohan to submit a brief report on the matter. The committee had met to discuss observations in an audit report prepared by the Comptroller and Auditor General on the establishment and functioning of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Institute of Medical Sciences.
The committee took suo motu cognisance of the Great Nicobar project, drawing an objection from Bharatiya Janata Party MP Anurag Thakur who said the matter was not on the agenda for the meeting, the Deccan Herald reported. Venugopal said that the committee was not discussing the subject, and that he had only directed the home secretary to submit a report on it, based on which the panel would decide whether to take it up.
In April, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi travelled to the Great Nicobar islands, and had expressed concerns that the project could destroy large tracts of rainforests and displace vulnerable tribal communities.
The Andaman and Nicobar chief secretary was not present at the meeting on Wednesday, about which the parliamentary committee took “serious note”, The Indian Express quoted Vengopal as saying. “The committee has asked the Union home secretary to give an explanation on why he [Andaman and Nicobar chief secretary] was not present at today’s meeting,” the Congress leader was quoted as having told reporters.
Venugopal also asked the home secretary whether he was aware of the environmental damage that could be caused by the felling of about 1.5 crore trees, even as the government claims that only a little over 7 lakh trees would be cut, the Deccan Herald quoted unidentified persons aware of the matter as saying. He also reportedly questioned the officials on concerns about the land being handed over to private companies.
Moreover, the MPs present at the meeting asked Mohan about alleged deficiencies in the establishment and operationalisation of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Institute of Medical Sciences. They noted that as per the Comptroller and Auditor General report, even after a decade of the institute’s inception in 2015, the key objective of providing high-quality medical education and robust healthcare services on the islands remains unfulfilled, according to the newspaper.
The Great Nicobar Project includes the construction of new townships, a power plant, a greenfield international airport and a transshipment port.
It is expected to use 166 sq km of the Great Nicobar island, which is part of the Nicobar Islands. The island falls within the Sundaland Biodiversity Hotspot, spanning the western half of the Indonesian archipelago.
Concerns have been raised about the impact of large infrastructure projects on the Shompen, a vulnerable tribal group, and the Nicobarese community. The project has also faced criticism for its potential impact on the island’s biodiversity, rainforests and endemic species.
Edited by Sara Varghese.
Also read: How Nicobar’s corals disappeared on government maps
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