Objections by Shompen tribe is not in govt records, says Jairam Ramesh on Great Nicobar infra push

New Delhi: The Union Environment Ministry didn’t take into consideration the objections put forward by the Shompen and the Great Nicobarese tribes against the Centre’s controversial mega infrastructure project in the pristine island, Jairam Ramesh, Congress leader and former Union Environment Minister said here on Tuesday.

Ramesh said submissions made by the members of the community against the project were not entered into the records and discussed by an official panel that recommended de-notification of the tribal reserve.

The tribe’s opposition was recorded in a video report submitted by noted anthropologist Visvajit Pandya and his team.

“The video shows the members of the Shompen community clearly stating that they are against any disturbances to their forested and riparian habitats, and members of the Great Nicobarese community reiterating their demand to return to their ancestral villages,” Ramesh wrote in his letter.

The former minister said comments by Pandya and the opinion of the tribe members were not considered by the official committee as they were not in the records. “What was the purpose of the consultation? Was this merely a window dressing exercise,” he asked.

Ramesh responded to a letter that Yadav wrote to him last week, allaying concerns on the Great Nicobar project that raised red-flags among environmentalists and policy makers.

In his letter, Yadav assured that all rules were being followed to ensure that the pristine ecology of the island remained intact and the indigenous communities were not disturbed.

Yadav argued that the proposed development is in sync with the Shompen policy that allows large scale developmental projects in the Great Nicobar island. He said anthropologists like Pandya discussed it with the government to ensure that the tribes were not adversely affected.

On the government’s argument of the island not facing any mega-earthquake threat in the next 420-750 years, Ramesh said the study quoted by Yadav was “highly limited in its scope” and appeared to focus on “tsunami risk alone”.

“Great Nicobar lies in one of the world’s most earthquake prone regions, and given strength and location, these earthquakes can irreparably damage these infra projects,” Ramesh warned.

The Narendra Modi government plans a Rs 72,000 crore infrastructure project, which will include a Rs 40,000 crore transshipment port at Galathea Bay along with an airport, a power plant and a greenfield township spread over 160 sq km of land.