NEW DELHI: Amid continuing uproar over the Great Nicobar Project, Congress MP Manickam Tagore on Monday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his urgent intervention to protect the constitutional and legal rights of the Nicobarese tribes that are “threatened” by the Rs 72,000-crore infrastructure scheme. He urged the PM to direct the Union ministries of tribal affairs, and environment and forests, to conduct an independent review of the process followed to grant forest clearances and divert forest land in Nicobar.In his letter, Tagore said the Andaman and Nicobar administration has wrongly claimed that Forest Rights Act (FRA) rights were “identified and settled” before forest clearances were granted for diversion of 13,075 hectares of forest land. He said the Tribal Council of Great Nicobar has categorically rejected the administration’s claim and dubbed the assertion a direct violation of FRA, 2006.The Congress MP urged Modi to suspend the project till laws are complied with, and to ensure that forest rights of the tribal communities are fully recognised before land diversion. He also demanded that officials be held accountable for “misrepresentation”. Arguing that the Nicobarese community is among India’s most vulnerable groups and has been historically protected under the Protection of Aboriginal Tribes Regulation, 1956, Tagore said, “The strength of our democracy lies in protecting the rights of the weakest. The voice of the Nicobarese must be heard, respected, and upheld in the true spirit of justice”.
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