Rahul slams Centre on Great Nicobar project
New Delhi, April 30 -- Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday attacked the Centre over the Great Nicobar Holistic Development Project, calling it "one of the biggest scams and gravest crimes against the natural and tribal heritage of the country" and pledging to raise the concerns of locals in Parliament.
"The government calls what it is doing here a 'Project.' What I have seen is not a project. It is millions of trees marked for the axe. It is 160 square kilometres of rainforest condemned to die. It is communities that have been ignored while their homes have been snatched away," said Gandhi in a post on X, where he also shared a video of himself travelling through the forest.
The project involves an international container transshipment terminal, an international airport, a power plant, and a township over 166.10 sq km, of which 130.75 sq km is forest and 84.10 sq km is tribal land.
Gandhi said that the island is inhabited by a number of communities, including tribals and settlers from the defence forces, all of whom wish to ensure the safety of the land. "They have asked me to raise this issue in Parliament, and I will gladly do that," he added.
The Congress leader further said that "every single person" on the island is against the project, has not been consulted, and does not know what compensation they will receive for their land. "The people on this island are equally beautiful - both the adivasi communities and the settlers - but they are being robbed of what is rightfully theirs," he added....
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