An online petition urging the Union government to withdraw the projects it has planned on Great Nicobar island has garnered more than 2.10 lakh signatures as of Thursday night (May 21). The petition highlights the “extensive deforestation” that the projects will cause and stresses on the need to promote sustainable alternatives for development on the island. https://thewire.in/environment/more-than-2-lakh-people-sign-petition-against-great-nicobar-projects
The Union government has planned a slew of infrastructure projects on Great Nicobar Island, the southernmost island in the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago. These include an international transshipment container terminal, a greenfield airport, a township and a power plant.
Citizens including biologists, social scientists, conservationists and retired civil servants have raised numerous concerns such as the government’s underestimation of the trees that are likely to be felled for the projects, a flawed Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), ignoring the dissent of local communities, and bypassing laws including the Forest Rights Act to provide permissions for the implementation of the projects.
The petition reiterates several of these concerns, inlcuding the deforestation of 130 square kilometres of rainforest by felling 9.6 lakh trees, though some experts peg this number at close to one million, and that the port project will threaten biodiversity at Galathea Bay, in the southeastern part of the island.
22/05/2026