India court clears mega project on sensitive island

MUMBAI: India’s environmental court has given the go-ahead to the strategically significant Great Nicobar infrastructure project despite widespread concerns of ecological damage to the island in the Andaman Sea.

The National Green Tribunal on Monday dismissed a batch of petitions objecting to the mega project on ecologically sensitive Great Nicobar island, saying “adequate safeguards” had been taken into account.

The infrastructure plan involves building a transshipment port, airport, power plant and a township on the island, located close to the Strait of Malacca, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is looking to pour billions of dollars into connecting the island to global trade routes, after the project was granted initial environmental approvals in 2022.

India’s environment minister last September called it a project of “strategic, defence and national importance” which would transform Great Nicobar into a major hub of maritime and air connectivity in the Indian Ocean region.

The Andaman and Nicobar archipelago has also long been seen within India as key to countering China’s growing influence in the region.

But activists say the infrastructure drive may adversely impact the ecology of the island, result in the felling of hundreds of thousands of trees and harm the interests of local tribal groups.

The Nicobarese community has expressed fears over dispossession of their ancestral land, which was devastated in the 2004 tsunami.

Lawmaker Jairam Ramesh from the opposition Congress party called the tribunal’s approval “deeply disappointing”.

“There is clear evidence that the project will have disastrous ecological impacts,” he said in a post on X, warning of “long-term consequences”.