Estimated to cost ₹72,000 crore, the development project will see felling of around 8.5 lakh trees
Estimated to cost ₹72,000 crore, the development project will see felling of around 8.5 lakh trees
Rajya Sabha MP Binoy Viswam on Friday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to revoke the approval granted for the diversion of about 130.75 sq km of forest area in Great Nicobar Island for a development project.
In a letter to Mr Modi, the Communist Party of India MP said: “The government’s justification of compensatory afforestation is ill-advised because the ecological assets destroyed … cannot be recreated elsewhere”.
The Union Environment Ministry has given in-principle permission to divert about 130.75 sq km of forest area in Great Nicobar Island for a development project where a trans-shipment port, an airport, a power plant and a greenfield township will come up . , The estimated cost of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation (ANIIDCO) project is ₹72,000 crore, which will involve felling of around 8.5 lakh trees.
Mr Viswam said the Great Nicobar Island is home to one of the best-preserved tropical forests in the world, with 650 species of flora and 330 species of fauna, including endemic species. The MP said the project would damage the ecological balance of the area and endanger the future of these flora and fauna.
“The time has come for the government to stop this practice of treating the environment as a commodity under its ownership and understand that we are only its ‘possessors’,” the letter said.
The Member of Parliament said the government’s obsession with “ease of doing business” in this way would affect the ‘right to life’ guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution. “It is our duty to preserve the environment for future generations”.
He also drew attention to the BJP’s manifesto for the 2014 general election, which promised to “establish foolproof mechanisms for conservation and protection of wildlife” and to “nurture the environment, institutions, people”.
“In the light of the above, I urge you to ensure that the clearance granted is revoked at the earliest in the interest of our environment,” the letter to the Prime Minister said.