Congress: Government ignored Nicobar’s concerns

Rahul Gandhi, congress Refuting its stance on Sunday, it said the Center had failed to address serious concerns raised by affected local communities, environmentalists, anthropologists, academics and civil society over the project. Opposition parties also called for a parliamentary debate on the issue to address transparency and security concerns.Rejecting the government’s claims that the project is a strategic move to strengthen India’s presence in the Andaman Sea, Congress leader Neta Jairam Ramesh quoted former Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Arun Prakash (retd) who opined that “the security capabilities of the ANC (Andaman and Nicobar Command) need to be addressed separately and must not be linked to the development plans of the GNI (Great Nicobar Island)”.“There is therefore no need to link India’s legitimate security needs to the so-called ‘development projects’ – including a town, high-end tourism infrastructure and a large transshipment terminal – that the Modi government intends to bulldoze,” Ramesh said in a four-page note…The party claimed that the government was in “damage control mode” following Lok Sabha opposition leader Rahul Gandhi’s recent visit to the island. Ramesh believes that the Great Nicobar ecosystem is unique and cannot be compared with other islands in the archipelago.He expressed serious concern for the Nicobar and Shompen groups, noting that the Nicobar community had withdrawn its No Objection Certificate (NoC) for the forest diversion in November 2022.