Congress leader and MP Jairam Ramesh on Friday wrote to Union Environment Minister Bhupinder Yadav over the Greater Nicobar Island project alleging continued lack of transparency on the part of the central government and demanding public disclosure of key environmental documents.
This development comes amid a series of letters exchanged between Ramesh and Yadav about the project over the past two years.
In his last letter, dated June 19, Ramesh, who is also the Secretary-General in charge of Communications in Congress, said that conservation and mitigation plans, updated Environmental Management Plan, several supporting studies and reports of a high-powered committee appointed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) were still not available on the project. This included mandatory six-month compliance reports, which have not been shared since March 2024.
Ramesh said the project’s environmental assessments were inadequate and said the government’s invocation of “strategic objectives” could not justify withholding important documents.
“I regret to say once again that the environmental impact assessments for various aspects of the Greater Nicobar Island Project are clearly inadequate and fall woefully short of the guidelines set by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change itself. Bi-monthly compliance reports are scheduled to be published. However, after March 2024, no such compliance report has been made available. Minutes of Project Monitoring Committee meetings are uploaded several months after they are held,” the latest letter exchanged between the two said.
Ramesh also said that the environmental clearance calls for submission of conservation and mitigation plans within 15 days after the permit is granted on November 11, 2022. However, there has been no transparency about it as well.
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“These plans are also not available to the public. These include plans to be prepared by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Salim Ali Center for Ornithology (SACON), Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), Botanical Survey of India (BSI), National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM) and Andaman and Nicobar Forest Department (ANFD),” she said, adding that some institutions were also supposed to submit revised proposals for monitoring and surveillance. Mitigation plans – after incorporating the proposals submitted by the Environmental Assessment Committee. Not only were these matters outside the public domain, but neither was the updated Environmental Management Plan – based on existing and additional studies, Ramesh said.
“There are at least, as far as I have been able to clarify, twelve such studies conducted by various institutions,” the letter adds, noting that a number of studies are still pending, proving that the environmental permit was granted prematurely and hastily.
“It is clear that some mitigation plans, such as large-scale relocation of coral colonies are unrealistic and almost impossible. You may recall that I had earlier requested the publication of the report of the Higher Committee (HPC) set up by the National Green Tribunal along with the field survey of the National Center for Sustainable Coastal Management on which the questionable conclusion reached by the Higher Committee on the state of coastal regulation of the proposed shipping port was based,” he said, adding that making everything public and saying that it in no way hinders the achievement of the “so-called strategic objectives” that have now become the rationale for the island project. Great Nicobar.
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He added: “Serious questions about its environmental impact assessment and legitimate concerns about its serious environmental consequences remain unanswered or addressed by your unfortunately evasive responses. I am simply unable to understand the extraordinary level of non-transparency being adopted to hide reports, studies and plans.”
There have been a series of altercations between the two, for over a year now, with Ramesh repeatedly challenging the rationale and approvals behind the mega project.
Yadav had responded to Ramesh’s earlier letter dated June 3 on June 13, confirming that the project had obtained all necessary permissions. It had said that the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) has already addressed all the environmental concerns and the NGT has also duly considered the issue.
“I would like to mention that your concerns have already been addressed in my previous letters… I would also like to state that the NGT in its orders dated 3 April 2023 and 16 February 2026, has duly considered, among other issues, those raised in your letter such as the applicability of the Memorandum dated 3 November 2009 and the Port EIA Guideline, the erosion status of the Island Coastal Regulatory Zone (ICRZ) and the confidentiality of the Committee’s report Supreme..,” Yadav had said in his letter to Ramesh on June 13.
“Furthermore, issues related to environmental assessment, adequacy of studies, environmental safeguards or compliance with coastal regulations have already been duly examined by the relevant EAC thoroughly.”
As of the time of filing the copy, there was no immediate response available from Yadav, or the Union Environment Ministry.
