New Delhi | The Congress on Wednesday attacked the government over the Great Nicobar Island project, saying the transshipment port on Galathea Bay is a recipe for ecological havoc and would lead to large-scale destruction of coral colonies.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh shared a media report on X which claimed that the Zoological Survey of India will soon seek a nod from the Department of Environment and Forest, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, for translocation of over 16,000 coral colonies that are to be impacted around the Galathea Bay transshipment port site, under the Great Nicobar Island (GNI) project.
"The transshipment port on Galathea Bay in Great Nicobar will, in all probability, be part of the Modani empire. It is a recipe for ecological havoc, one example (and only one example) of which will be the large-scale destruction of coral colonies," Ramesh said on X.
"Nowhere in the world has relocation on such a scale proposed as a mitigation measure worked. Scientists should have the courage of their conviction not of their political bosses bulldozing this project through," the former environment minister said.
Ramesh's remarks come days after he wrote to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh over the project and urged him to reconsider the rejection of the full expansion of the INS Baaz runway.
The Congress leader had also copied the letter to Union Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav, to whom, Ramesh said, he has written over the past two years on at least four different occasions highlighting the demonstrably "dubious nature" of the environmental impact assessment of the project in its totality.
The government is planning to build an international container transshipment port (ICTP), a civilian-cum-naval airport, a township and a power plant under the GNI project.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has said the government's argument that the Great Nicobar Island project is about defence and a transshipment port is a "lie", and alleged that it is actually about benefiting one businessman so that he can build hotels and casinos on India's most irreplaceable ecological land.
Gandhi had also released an over 16-minute video earlier this month based on his visit to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in late April and urged people to sign a petition to tell the government - "we choose green over greed".
