While defending the Great Nicobar Island mega-infrastructure project at the National Green Tribunal on Thursday (Oct 30, 2025), the Union government claimed that it is fully aware of the likely impact of the project on the biodiversity of the surrounding areas, with the main issue being whether the government is “alive or not”.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati noted that the government sees it as its duty to take mitigation measures, and said the Center has mandated conservation and monitoring programs that will continue for the next three decades as the project is developed. “We’ve brought the best scientific resources available to us to move this forward, to do the research and design the mitigation and take us through thirty years of this project,” she said, stressing that the project “will be a national asset.”
The submissions came in response to a series of petitions challenging the environmental clearance issued for the ₹92,000 crore project, which will include a transshipment hub, an international airport, a municipality and a power plant to be built over 160 sq km. country. Of which about 130 square km. is a forest land inhabited by the Nicobarese and Shompen communities, both scheduled tribes, with the Shompen categorized as a particularly vulnerable tribal group.
One petition, filed by activist Ashish Kothari, challenges the permissions obtained for the project, citing violations of the Island Coastal Regulation Zone (ICRZ) notification, 2019 notification and deficiencies in the environmental impact assessment. In separate submissions, Mr. Kothari also challenged the confidentiality of the High Performance Committee report, which was prepared on the directions of the NGT Bench hearing the matter earlier.
Impact on biodiversity
Presenting its arguments before the NGT Bench, which is now hearing the matter, the Union government said it considered studies and research conducted over decades before ordering measures to relocate, preserve and monitor the impact of project activities on the region’s biodiversity.
Citing some of these studies, Ms Bhati noted that while plans have been drawn up to relocate more than 16,000 of the 20,668 coral colonies that are threatened by project activities, there is also a plan to ensure monitoring of the remaining 4,500-odd coral colonies so that observational relocation decisions can be made if necessary. In addition, she said there are about 51 active Nicobar megapod nests in the area of project activities; although about 30 will be permanently destroyed, there were also plans to preserve the remaining nests.
“The government is aware of the location of Galathea Bay, which is at the tip of the islands. It’s not like the government is destroying the biodiversity there. There is biodiversity all around the islands and the conclusion was that this area is the most suitable. All other leatherback nesting beaches will be protected and preserved; resources have been allocated for that,” Ms Bhati argued.
She further said that similar plans have been proposed to conserve several species of flora and fauna, including the saltwater crocodile, Nicobar macaw and mangrove forests. The government also said that the relocation of coral colonies was a tested exercise with more than 90% survival rate. She added that no tribal people would be displaced or dispersed, noting that the project would cover only 1.82% of the island’s entire archipelago area, which is about 18% of Great Nicobar’s area, with more than two-thirds of the GNI being forested.
Conservation plans to 2052
The center also defended the environmental permit granted to the project, which mandated detailed measures to study, research and monitor the region’s biodiversity during the project’s development, calling it a “living document” that prescribes conservation measures until 2052.
Government submissions also highlighted that three new nature reserves have been approved to protect endemic species and two all-weather research stations are on the islands tasked with monitoring biodiversity and designing interventions.
The Center noted that the high-powered committee’s report on the terms of reference, which was given by the NGT, was confidential as parts of the project are defence-related. It insisted that the committee re-examined all the issues in view of the challenge for environmental clearance, not just the three points raised by the NGT. Apart from the three monitoring committees charged with pollution, biodiversity and tribal welfare, the panel also mandated the formation of an umbrella committee to coordinate the monitoring work of the three committees.
One expert member on the NGT Bench observed that the Tribal Welfare Monitoring Committee needs to have more independence as it currently comprises only members of the Andaman and Nicobar administration. The Union Tribal Affairs Secretary or his representative should also be included in this monitoring committee, the member said.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for November 7.
Published – 30 Oct 2025 20:40 IST
