New Delhi, Aug 25 (PTI) Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav has said clearances for the strategically important Great Nicobar project were granted after careful consideration of the potential ecological impacts and assured that it will not adversely affect the tribal population.
In response to a letter from Congress MP Jairam Ramesh on August 10, Yadav, on August 21, said the environmental and forest clearances granted by his ministry have “withstood judicial scrutiny”.
The project, being implemented by the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation (ANIIDCO), includes a transhipment port, an airport, a power plant, and a greenfield township over an area of more than 160 square km.
The minister said the project is of national, defence, and strategic importance, and that it would be “incorrect” to claim it poses a “grave threat to Great Nicobar Island’s tribal communities and natural ecosystem”.
Environment and forest clearances for the project proposal, which is of “strategic, defence, and national importance, have been granted after due diligence” and consideration of the potential ecological impacts.
Legal safeguards and constitutional provisions related to the tribal communities have been “duly followed”, the letter said.
Rebutting claims of violations of policy and legal safeguards for tribal communities, Yadav said all procedures mandated by law, regulations, and policies have been followed, including consultations with tribal experts from the Anthropological Survey of India.
These measures were undertaken to ensure the safety, protection, welfare, and well-being of the particularly vulnerable tribal groups in the context of the project.
He assured that the interests of the tribal population, particularly the Shompen, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG), will not be adversely affected.
The Andaman and Nicobar Administration has prepared a budget of Rs 201.98 crore for tribal welfare plans including setting up of a special medical unit to be implemented for a period of 50 years, Yadav said.
The minister clarified that the only habitation of Shompens or Nicobarese in the project area, located at New Chingen and Rajiv Nagar, will not be displaced by the administration.
He added that the diversion of forest land for the project is in accordance with the National Forest Policy, 1988, which requires that two-thirds of the area in hills and mountain regions remain under forest cover.
Despite the proposed diversion of forest land for this project in Great Nicobar Island, 82 per cent of the island’s area remains under protected forests, national parks, eco-sensitive zones, and biosphere reserves for the conservation of biodiversity at ecosystem, species, and genetic levels.
This exceeds the required norms for maintaining two-thirds of the area under forest cover in hilly and mountainous areas during development projects, Yadav said.
Since suitable areas for plantation are not available on Great Nicobar Island, the planting of native species on non-notified forest lands in arid landscapes and near urban areas would provide greater ecological value.
Accordingly, compensatory afforestation will be carried out in Haryana (including the Aravallis), Madhya Pradesh, or states adjoining the NCR, over non-notified forest land or degraded land, double the extent of the area being diverted.
The non-notified forest land used for compensatory afforestation will be designated as reserve forest or protected forest, he said. PTI GVS RHL
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