'Specious argument': Congress slams Amit Shah over his Great Nicobar project remarks
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress on Tuesday slammed as "specious argument” Home Minister Amit Shah's remarks that the Great Nicobar Island Development Project will increase the country's maritime trade multiple times.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications and former environment minister Jairam Ramesh asserted that the project's “devastating ecological and social impacts are beyond doubt”.
The opposition party's attack on the government came a day after over 70 scientists, environmentalists and former bureaucrats urged the government to reconsider the Great Nicobar Island project, claiming that it is "an exploitative commercial proposal" being "wrongly portrayed as a strategic defence project".
"The Union Home Minister (Amit Shah) has unsurprisingly got involved in the debate on the Great Nicobar mega infrastructure project saying that it will boost India's maritime trade. As several experts on this issue have identified, this is a specious argument," Ramesh said.
Moreover, the Home Minister completely ignores the project's devastating ecological and social impacts that are beyond doubt, the former environment minister said.
"His colleague, the Union Minister of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change, and I have earlier had a detailed exchange on this project," he said.
"From time to time various aspects of the project and how it is being brazenly bulldozed through due process have been revealed in the media. But none of this is being taken note of by the Modi government," Ramesh said.
"Now 70 scholars, environmentalists, foresters, civil society activists, former civil servants, and lawyers have written to the Union Minister of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change expressing their deep concern at the grave and irreversible negative impacts of the project," Ramesh said.
They have beseeched him to set aside political considerations and focus on the project's ecological implications that are very much part of the national security calculus, he said.
Hopefully, the minister and the government will find in them to acknowledge these concerns, Ramesh said and shared the letter on X.
Shah on Monday said the Great Nicobar Island Development Project will increase the country's maritime trade multiple times.
The mega infrastructure project, titled Holistic Development of Great Nicobar, involves the construction of a transhipment port, an international airport, a township and a power plant over more than 160 square km of land.
This includes around 130 square km of pristine forest inhabited by the Nicobarese, a Scheduled Tribe (ST), and the Shompens, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG), whose population is estimated to be between 200 and 300.
In their detailed letter to Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav, over 70 scientists, environmentalists and former bureaucrats said it was "disingenuous to label what is essentially a commercial project as a strategic one and invoke national security whenever questions on the project are raised".
They cautioned that the massive diversion of forest land and displacement of indigenous communities due to the project would cause "grave and irreversible" ecological and social damage.
"The only component of the proposed project that was made defence-related, and that too after the public hearing, is the dual-use military-cum-civilian airport," the letter said.
"The remaining 160 square km, including 130.75 square km of rainforest and 2.98 square km of sea, proposed to be reclaimed, is being done for a commercial transhipment port, an associated power plant and a sprawling township," it said.
Refuting the minister's statement that tribal policies had been fully respected, the signatories alleged, "This statement is far from true. The rights accorded to the indigenous communities under the Forest Rights Act have been violated. Even the provisions under the ANPAT Regulation (1956) and the Shompen Policy (2015) have been wholly ignored in the rush to grant clearances."
The signatories alleged that the Environmental Appraisal Committee ignored anthropological and ecological objections and that "Galathea wildlife sanctuary was denotified, and three new sanctuaries were notified without any consultation with the Great and Little Nicobar islanders".
They described the move as a "hollow exercise intended solely to satisfy Environmental Clearance conditions for enabling the project".
The letter also claimed a "glaring conflict of interest" in the involvement of government institutes in both preparing and monitoring the environmental management plans.
They urged the environment minister to set aside political considerations, focus on the grave and irreversible negative implications of the proposed project and take serious note of the need to reconsider it.
The signatories include Padma Bhushan Ramachandra Guha, Padma Shri Romulus Whitaker, wildlife biologist Ravi Chellam, nature conservationist Asad Rahmani, scientist Sharachchandra Lele, and former Gujarat PCCF Ashok Kumar Sharma, among others.
In an article in "The Hindu", Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi had termed the Great Nicobar Mega Infra Project a "planned misadventure" that threatens the survival of the Shompen and Nicobarese tribes, destroys one of the world's most unique ecosystems and is highly susceptible to natural disasters.
Gandhi had alleged that the project was being pushed through by "making a mockery of all legal and deliberative processes".
In response, Environment Minister Yadav had written a column in the same newspaper, defending the project as one of strategic, defence and national importance.
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Businessman lured by FB friend, attacked for extortion in K'taka; 4 held
Madikeri (Karnataka) (PTI): Four people were arrested for allegedly assaulting, illegally confining and attempting to extort money from a 39-year-old businessman who was lured through a honeytrap set up on social media, police said on Monday.
The accused have been identified as Rachana, Malati, Darshan and Ravi.
Police said efforts are underway to nab the remaining suspects involved in the incident, which occurred on December 12 in Madikeri, the district headquarters of Kodagu.
According to the complaint, the victim, a resident of Maddur taluk in Mandya district, was befriended by a woman identified as Rachana through Facebook, who later sought financial assistance and received Rs 5,000 from him via PhonePe on November 28.
When he asked her to return the money, the woman allegedly asked him to travel to Mysuru or Kushalnagar, promising to meet him.
The police said the woman later called the victim to Madikeri on December 12 and took him to a house near the market area, where they spent some time and consumed alcohol in the evening.
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Later that night, citing an emergency, the woman left the house. After her departure, three men allegedly broke into the house and attacked the victim, assaulting him with a stick and the handle of a sword, causing injuries to his face, mouth, chest and leg, the FIR stated.
The complainant alleged that he was forcibly confined, stripped and a nude video of him was recorded. The accused also allegedly threatened him with a toy gun, demanding Rs 50 lakh and warning that the video would be uploaded on social media if the money was not paid.
Police said the victim was held captive and somehow managed to escape in the early hours of December 13. However, after he escaped, the accused allegedly attempted to kidnap him in an autorickshaw, an incident that was captured on CCTV cameras.
Based on his complaint at the Madikeri Town police station, a case was registered under Sections 310(2) (dacoity), 127(2) (wrongful confinement), 118(1) (voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means) and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, a senior police officer said.
“Four accused, including two women, have been arrested. Efforts are on to nab two more absconding accused. Further investigation is on,” he added.
