Overview
- On Thursday Jairam Ramesh intensified his public challenge to the Great Nicobar Island Project and said five separate petitions by citizens and civil society groups are currently pending before the Calcutta High Court.
- Ramesh has written to the ministers for ports, environment, defence and tribal affairs asking for clarifications and urging specific actions such as reconsidering the full expansion of the INS Baaz runway and enforcing the Forest Rights Act for affected communities.
- He and other Congress figures call the project's environmental impact assessment demonstrably dubious and say the proposed transhipment port at Galathea Bay would cause large-scale damage to coral colonies and to Eco-Sensitive Zones around Campbell Bay and Galathea National Parks.
- Rahul Gandhi has insisted the defence and port justification is false and alleged the plan would primarily enable commercial development for a private actor, while the party continues public campaigns and a petition drive after his April visit to the islands.
- The government continues to promote the scheme but the combination of a February 16 National Green Tribunal order, pending High Court petitions and sustained political pressure has placed the project under active legal and political scrutiny with outcomes still unresolved.