Syllabus: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.
Project Overview
- The Great Nicobar mega-project involves a port, airport, power plant, and township.
- Estimated investment rose to ₹92,000 crore, with significant ecological implications.
- The project has faced legal scrutiny before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and Calcutta High Court.
Ministry’s admission
- The Environment Ministry admitted the project will significantly impact island biodiversity.
- Galathea Bay hosts over 20,000 live coral colonies and vital turtle nesting beaches.
- The site includes more than 50 nesting mounds of the endemic Nicobar megapode.
Conservation paradox
- The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) had earlier denotified the proposed Galathea Bay sanctuary in 2021.
- Denotification removed protected status that was originally proposed to protect biodiversity.
- This sequence raises questions about the Ministry’s commitment to conservation mandates.
CRZ classification dispute
- CRZ-1A areas prohibit large construction due to ecological sensitivity.
- An NGT order (April 2023) noted Galathea Bay qualified as CRZ-1A.
- The National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) ground-truthing later concluded no part fell under CRZ-1A.
- The high-powered committee accepted the NCSCM’s confidential report as conclusive.
Transparency and procedural issues
- Neither the NCSCM report nor the committee submission are publicly available.
- The Ministry cites defence reasons to withhold these documents from disclosure.
- The Ministry’s recent admissions about coral and nesting conflict with prior reports.
- This contradiction raises concerns about scientific rigour, procedural propriety, and honesty.
- Public scrutiny is essential given Galathea Bay’s importance for leatherback turtle nestings.