‘Grave misadventure’ endangering tribals, ecology: Sonia Gandhi slams Great Nicobar Project

Sonia Gandhi slams Great Nicobar Island Project as a threat to tribal rights and fragile ecosystem

In a powerful op-ed published in a top newspaper, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi has hit out hard at the government’s ambitious Great Nicobar Island Project. She calls it a “grave misadventure” that ignores tribal rights, skips proper checks, and endangers one of India’s most delicate ecosystems. As the Chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party and a Rajya Sabha member, Gandhi urges everyone to speak up before it’s too late.

Gandhi warns that the project puts the survival of the Shompen and Nicobarese tribes at serious risk. “Our commitment to future generations can’t allow this massive destruction of a unique ecosystem,” she writes. “We must raise our voice against this injustice and betrayal of our national values.” She points out that the Rs 72,000 crore plan—wait, actually Rs 72,000 crore, not the earlier figure—includes a transshipment port, international airport, township, and power plant across over 160 sq km. But at what cost?

### Tribal Communities Face Uprooting and Loss of Heritage

Great Nicobar Island is home to two key indigenous groups: the Nicobarese and the vulnerable Shompen tribe. Gandhi highlights how the 2004 tsunami already displaced many Nicobarese families, and now this project could permanently uproot their ancestral villages. For the Shompen, who rely on the forests for their way of life, the impact could be devastating. “They’ll be cut off from their lands and unable to sustain their social and economic existence,” she cautions.

The Congress leader accuses the government of bypassing constitutional protections. Under Article 338-A, they should have consulted the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, but they didn’t. The Tribal Council of Great Nicobar and Little Nicobar Island was also ignored—the council chair even pleaded for Nicobarese families to return home, but got no response. Their no-objection letter? It was rushed and later revoked.

Gandhi adds that the Social Impact Assessment under the 2013 Land Acquisition Act left out the Nicobarese and Shompen as stakeholders. The Forest Rights Act of 2006, which lets the Shompen manage their forests, has been completely overlooked. This, she says, shows a pattern of “half-baked policymaking” over the last 11 years.

### Massive Tree Loss and Ecological Damage

The environmental toll is huge, Gandhi argues. The project will chop down a massive chunk of forest—official estimates from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change say 8.5 lakh trees, but independent experts put it at 32 lakh to 58 lakh. That’s a “depressing figure” and likely an underestimate, she notes.

Compensatory afforestation sounds good on paper, but Gandhi calls it a joke. The plan is to plant trees in Haryana, thousands of kilometers away with totally different ecology. Worse, a quarter of that land has already been auctioned for mining by the Haryana government—talk about a farce!

She also flags issues with the port site, which falls in CRZ 1A zone, banned for construction because of turtle nesting beaches and coral reefs. Despite evidence and a National Green Tribunal order, the government used a high-powered committee to twist the facts, and their report isn’t even public. Primatologists worry about the Nicobar long-tailed macaque, and biodiversity checks were flawed—sea turtle assessments happened off-season, drone surveys for dugongs only skimmed the surface, and experts faced unusual pressure.

### Earthquake Risks in a Disaster-Prone Zone

Finally, Gandhi stresses the island’s seismic dangers. Great Nicobar sits in an earthquake-prone area, making the entire project—including the port—a risky bet. “This deliberately endangers investments, infrastructure, people, and the ecology,” she says. Why push such a mega-infrastructure plan in a spot so vulnerable to natural disasters?

Gandhi’s piece, titled ‘The making of an ecological disaster in the Nicobar’, calls on the nation’s “collective conscience” to act. As debates heat up over the Great Nicobar development project, her words spotlight the urgent need to protect tribal rights, indigenous communities, and the island’s biodiversity. Will the government listen?