Great Nicobar project recipe for ecological disaster: Ramesh slams govt for maintaining 'secrecy'

New Delhi: Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday claimed that the Great Nicobar mega infrastructure project is a "recipe for ecological disaster" and asked why the report of a government panel to revisit the environmental clearance to the project has reportedly been submitted to the NGT in a "sealed cover".

The former environment minister shared on X a media report which stated that the Union environment ministry on Monday submitted, in a sealed envelope, the report of a high-powered committee (HPC) formed to revisit the Great Nicobar Island mega infrastructure project’s environmental clearance to a six-member bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT).

Ramesh said the report of the panel set up by the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change to revisit the environmental clearance given to the Great Nicobar project has just submitted its report to the NGT.

"The project is a recipe for ecological and humanitarian disaster. Why has the panel's report been submitted in a 'sealed cover'? Why this level of secrecy?" Ramesh said.

A report of a panel set up by the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change to revisit the environmental clearance given to the Great Nicobar Mega Infrastructure Project has just submitted its report to the National Green Tribunal.

The project is a recipe for… pic.twitter.com/5klWyeHrqF

— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) July 8, 2025

On Monday, Ramesh said it is abundantly clear that the Great Nicobar infrastructure project is a recipe for ecological and humanitarian disaster.

"I have had a detailed exchange with the Union Minister of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change on this catastrophe but the Modi government is insistent and persistent," he had said on X and shared his exchange with the minister.

"Many professionals have also continued to speak out against the project. The latest revelation is that the environmental impact study conducted for this project completely downplayed the earthquake risks. As the December 2004 tsunami demonstrated, such risks are for real. Moreover, there are other geodynamic sources of risk that cannot be brushed aside," he had said.

Ramesh has been insisting that the present design of the Great Nicobar project "endangers ecology" in a "needlessly unacceptable manner".