The National Green Tribunal on Monday disposed of challenges to the Great Nicobar Project, saying that it found no grounds to interfere as there are “adequate safeguards” in the environmental clearance, The Indian Express reported.
The six-member special bench noted the “strategic importance” of the project, saying that the problems were dealt with by a committee. The panel had been tasked by the tribunal to revisit the environmental clearance granted to the project.
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.
On Monday, the National Green Tribunal directed the authorities and regulatory agencies to ensure “full and strict” compliance with the conditions laid down in the environmental clearance, The Indian Express reported.
The tribunal’s ruling came on two pleas filed by environmental activist Ashish Kothari alleging that the 2019 Island Coastal Regulation Zone notification was being violated.
The activist had sought that hundreds of hectares earmarked for the proposed port, airport, a township for defence and other residential areas be excluded from the project because their locations are within the coastal regulation zone where such construction is prohibited, The Indian Express reported.
Kothari also alleged that the tribunal’s 2023 order for the project’s environmental clearance to be reviewed had not been complied with. The committee set up for the task had examined select aspects of the project’s environmental impacts and not the entire clearance process, the newspaper quoted the activist as having argued.
Also watch: True Story: How we investigated the disappearing corals of Great Nicobar
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