New Delhi, May 19 -- Alleging that the Great Nicobar Island Project is being bulldozed through by the Modi government, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday termed it "ill--conceived, commercially-driven" and said the Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve is now hugely endangered because of the move.

"We take great pride in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in India - and rightly so. But what about the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves which are equally prestigious? Their objective is to preserve ecological and cultural diversity," Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X.

"India has 18 designated Biosphere Reserves of which 13 are internationally recognised and included in this World Network. One of these thirteen declared in 2013 is none...