Congress MP Jairam Ramesh calls Great Nicobar project a commercial venture, not strategic, in fresh letter to Defence Minister
In a fresh letter to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh has dismissed claims that the Great Nicobar Island Project is a strategically vital national initiative. He reiterated his stance that the scheme is fundamentally a commercial enterprise for which a strategic rationale is being invented.
Mr. Ramesh was responding to Mr. Singh's reply of July 17, which itself answered two of the MP's earlier letters. Over the past two years, Mr. Ramesh has written repeatedly on the project to four Union Ministers — Environment, Forests and Climate Change; Tribal Affairs; Ports, Shipping and Waterways; and Defence — three of whom, he said, have replied.
In the July 25 letter, Mr. Ramesh argued that the trans-shipment port at Galathea Bay lies at the project's heart and accounts for about half its budget, making it commercial by definition. The dual-purpose airport, the only component with a defence focus, requires just 5% of the 166 sq km sought and about 10% of the budget, he said, calling claims of the project's overall strategic importance an exaggeration. He added that the Draft Master Plan for 2047 envisages cruise tourism, casinos, theme parks and a finance hub, reading more like an ambitious real estate project.
Mr. Ramesh also reiterated that expanding the existing INS Baaz at Campbell Bay would carry lower environmental and social costs than the greenfield airport. He cited seven concerns — among them the felling of two forest-covered hills, destruction of Shompen tribal land and impacts on international bird flyways — that he said remain unrefuted. He questioned the confidentiality of the National Green Tribunal (NGT)-appointed High-Powered Committee report and urged the Minister to consult retired naval officers who have questioned the defence reasoning.
In his July 17 letter, Mr. Singh had said that portraying the project as merely a costly commercial venture grossly overlooks the strategic realities of the region. Its proximity to vital Sea Lanes of Communication, he wrote, enhances maritime domain awareness in ways that farther stations such as INS Kohassa or Car Nicobar cannot. Developing INS Baaz as a brownfield site had been examined during the environmental impact assessment but was found unsuitable as it would entail heavy land reclamation and disturb tribal populations, flora and fauna, the Minister said. He maintained that environmental and tribal concerns have not been disregarded, that all statutory approvals carry stringent safeguards, and that the NGT had found no ground to interfere.
