Aerial view of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. | Photo credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto
More than 70 scientists, former bureaucrats, activists, lawyers and environmentalists on Monday (27 October 2025) wrote an open letter in response to Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav’s defense of the proposed ₹92,000 crore Great Nicobar Island mega-infrastructure project, urging the minister to “set aside negative political considerations’ and deflected negative political considerations. consequences”.
The letter, published on Monday and also sent to Mr Yadav’s office, was in response to the environment minister’s article in The Hindu last month in which he advocated the project, which includes the construction of a transshipment terminal, an international airport, a township and a power plant on more than 160 square km of land.
This includes approximately 130 sq km of pristine forest inhabited by Nicobars, a Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Shompeny, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG), whose population is estimated at 200 to 300.
The work by the environment minister came days after senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi wrote an op-ed criticizing the way permits for the project were being obtained and warning the government of its potential impact on the islands’ biodiversity and indigenous people.
In response to Mr Yadav’s post, the open letter claimed that it was “disingenuous” to “invoke national security” and term the project as “strategic” whenever questions are raised about it. The signatories said that Mr Yadav’s figure of only 1.82% of forest on the islands used for the project was “mathematically accurate but ecologically misleading”, arguing that the figure was calculated considering the forest areas under the entire Andaman and Nicobar Islands, when in reality the project area would occupy about 15% of the forested island of the Nicobar Islands. in the Andaman Islands.
“The only part of the proposed project that was related to defense, and that too after the public hearing, is the military-civilian dual-use airport,” the paper said, adding that “The greenfield district, a commercial project, covers more than 80% of the total project area, excluding the defense township of 12.6 square kilometers.
The signatories include historian Ramachandra Guha, conservationist Romulus Whitaker, wildlife biologist Ravi Chellam, conservationist Asad Rahmani, scientist Sharachchandra Lele and former Chief Conservator of Forests, Gujarat Ashok Kumar Sharma, among others.
Experts further refuted the minister’s claim that laws and procedures designed to protect the rights of scheduled tribes were followed and followed, saying it was not “far from the truth”. “The rights granted to indigenous communities under the Forest Rights Act have been violated. Even the provisions under the ANPAT (1956) and Shompen Policy (2015) have been completely ignored in the rush to grant permits.”
The signatories alleged that the Environmental Assessment Committee ignored anthropological and ecological objections and that “the Galathea Nature Reserve was designated and three new reserves were announced without any consultation with the people of Greater and Lesser Nicobar”.
The Calcutta High Court is currently hearing a series of petitions challenging the forest clearances obtained for the project, and the National Green Tribunal is hearing a matter dealing with the environmental clearances granted to it.
In addition, the Great Nicobar forests are “our country’s last remaining primeval forest” and “the only home to approximately 24 percent of all species found there,” the letter said, further raising questions about its potential economic viability, which has yet to be proven.
Published – 27 Oct 2025 21:10 IST
