Legal challenges to the Great Nicobar infrastructure project

Sub: Env

Sec: Env legislation

Great Nicobar Island Project (GNI):

GNI Project is a mega project to be implemented at the southern end of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The project includes an international container transhipment terminal, a greenfield international airport, township development, and a 450 MVA gas and solar-based power plant over an extent of 16,610 hectares on the island.

Purpose:

Economic Reasons:
- As per the NITI Aayog report, the proposed port will allow Great Nicobar to participate in the regional and global maritime economy by becoming a major player in cargo transhipment.
- It is equidistant from Colombo to the southwest and Port Klang (Malaysia) and Singapore to the southeast and positioned close to the East-West international shipping corridor, through which a very large part of the world’s shipping trade passes.
Strategic Reasons:
- The proposal to develop Great Nicobar was first floated in the 1970s, and its importance for national security and consolidation of the Indian Ocean Region has been repeatedly underlined.
- Increasing Chinese assertion in the Indian Ocean has added great urgency to this imperative in recent years.

Legal Challenges and Environmental Concerns:

The project has faced legal challenges in the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and the Calcutta High Court.
In 2022, environmental activist Ashish Kothari and Conservation Action Trust (CAT) challenged the environmental and Coastal Regulation Zone clearances for the GNI project, citing irreversible damage to biodiversity and inadequate environmental impact studies.
Issues also included the impact on Shompen and Nicobarese tribal communities and non-compliance with statutory clearances.
CAT alleged a conflict of interest as the Secretary of Environment and Forests was also the Managing Director of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation Limited (ANIIDCO), the project’s implementing agency.

National Green Tribunal’s Actions

The NGT formed a high-powered committee (HPC) to revisit the project’s green clearance, concluding that the transhipment port does not fall in the prohibited Island Coastal Regulation Zone-IA (ICRZ-IA).
The NGT’s special bench did not interfere with the forest clearance, citing the need for development and national security but noted deficiencies in coral conservation and baseline data.

Source: IE