Congress urges Rajnath to revisit INS Baaz decision, flags ecological risks

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has renewed his attack on the Centre's ambitious Great Nicobar Island Project, urging defence minister Rajnath Singh to reconsider the reported decision against a full expansion of the INS Baaz runway and warning that the proposed greenfield airport could inflict irreversible ecological and social damage on one of India's most fragile island ecosystems.

In a letter to Singh on Friday, the former Union environment minister argued that expanding the existing runway at INS Baaz in Campbell Bay would be a less destructive alternative to constructing a new civilian-cum-naval airport in the Gandhi Nagar–Shastri Nagar area of Great Nicobar Island.

Ramesh said he had first raised the proposal with the defence minister on 16 May, suggesting that strategic and defence objectives could be achieved without the environmental costs associated with the proposed airport site.

Referring to media reports quoting defence ministry sources, he noted that the government had indicated that further expansion of the INS Baaz runway beyond 4,500 feet could have adverse ecological consequences.

"I appreciate the sudden worry for ecological protection," Ramesh wrote, before listing what he described as the far greater environmental costs of the proposed airport project.

According to the Congress leader, the planned airport would require the cutting of two forest-covered hills measuring up to 115 metres in height and would affect nearly 355 acres of protected and deemed forest land that form part of the traditional territory of the indigenous Shompen community.

"The proposed site comprises around 225 acres of protected forest and 130 acres of deemed forest, which are part of the territory of the Shompen tribal community and are currently being used by them," he said.

Ramesh also claimed that the airport site overlaps with ecologically sensitive coastal areas protected under Island Coastal Zone Regulation norms, including turtle nesting beaches, coral habitats and breeding grounds of the endangered Nicobar Megapode.

"The proposed site sits directly on about 142 acres of ICRZ-1A area enjoying the highest level of environmental protection," he said.

The Congress leader further alleged that the project would require the reclamation of a creek, relocation of saltwater crocodiles and displacement of 234 ex-servicemen settler families living in two villages located within the proposed airport zone.

"They will have to undergo relocation for the third time in recent years," he said.

Questioning the environmental scrutiny accorded to the project, Ramesh argued that the proposed airport site lies within a globally significant biodiversity hotspot that serves as an Important Bird Area, an Endemic Bird Area and a seasonal stopover for migratory birds travelling along the Central Asian and East Asian-Australasian flyways.

"The proposed site has not been subject to any serious and systematic environmental impact assessment," he contended.

Ramesh said it had taken the defence ministry more than six years to publicly respond to concerns surrounding the airport component of the Great Nicobar project.

"The disastrous ecological impacts of the Great Nicobar Island Project have become all too evident and are inviting widespread concern," he wrote, urging Singh to revisit the decision against a full runway expansion at INS Baaz — a proposal he said has also been supported by several distinguished naval veterans.

The latest intervention comes amid an escalating political battle over the mega infrastructure project, which includes an international container transshipment port, a civilian-cum-naval airport, a township and a power plant.

Defence ministry sources recently defended the project as a strategically vital initiative aimed at strengthening India's maritime security and economic interests in the Indian Ocean region. They also rejected criticism of the project, describing some detractors as suffering from "geographical illiteracy".

The sources maintained that INS Baaz is not part of the Great Nicobar development plan and argued that further runway expansion would require substantial land reclamation while affecting tribal areas and sensitive ecosystems.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has also emerged as a vocal critic of the project, alleging that the government's strategic justification is merely a cover for commercial interests.

"The argument that this project is about defence and a transshipment port is a lie," Gandhi said earlier this month, claiming the initiative is designed to benefit a private businessman through future tourism and casino developments on ecologically sensitive land.

Calling on citizens to oppose the project, Rahul Gandhi urged people to choose "green over greed" and support a campaign demanding greater environmental safeguards for Great Nicobar Island.

With PTI inputs