Overview
- On Friday, Rahul Gandhi released a 16-minute video from Great Nicobar, posted a petition called “we choose green over greed,” and accused the Centre of using the project to benefit a single businessman while destroying forests and coral.
- Gandhi alleged large-scale harm including the felling of millions of trees, erasure of coral from maps, and violations or misuse of the Forest Rights Act that threaten tribal communities and settlers.
- The Union Government has published a factsheet and cited studies by agencies such as ZSI, BSI, SACON and WII to defend environmental clearances and say the plan serves maritime and defence interests.
- Opposition figures point to earlier Public Investment Board findings that said the plan lacked strategic objectives and contrast that with the Ministry of Defence’s later designation of the project as strategic, while Congress offers INS Baaz expansion as a defence alternative.
- The plan covers a large coastal development with a transhipment terminal, airport, power plant and township, and the next flashpoints are legal and procedural reviews over FRA application, ownership and financing rules, and further environmental and judicial scrutiny.