by AFP Employees Writers
Mumbai, India (AFP) Feb 17, 2026
India’s environmental court docket has given the go-ahead to the strategically vital Nice Nicobar infrastructure venture regardless of widespread issues of ecological harm to the island within the Andaman Sea.
The Nationwide Inexperienced Tribunal on Monday dismissed a batch of petitions objecting to the mega venture on ecologically delicate Nice Nicobar island, saying “ample safeguards” had been taken into consideration.
The infrastructure plan includes constructing a transshipment port, airport, energy plant and a township on the island, positioned near the Strait of Malacca, one of many world’s busiest delivery lanes.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s authorities is seeking to pour billions of {dollars} into connecting the island to world commerce routes, after the venture was granted preliminary environmental approvals in 2022.
India’s atmosphere minister final September referred to as it a venture of “strategic, defence and nationwide significance” which might remodel Nice Nicobar into a serious hub of maritime and air connectivity within the Indian Ocean area.
The Andaman and Nicobar archipelago has additionally lengthy been seen inside India as key to countering China’s rising affect within the area.
However activists say the infrastructure drive might adversely influence the ecology of the island, end result within the felling of a whole bunch of hundreds of timber and hurt the pursuits of native tribal teams.
The Nicobarese neighborhood has expressed fears over dispossession of their ancestral land, which was devastated within the 2004 tsunami.
Lawmaker Jairam Ramesh from the opposition Congress social gathering referred to as the tribunal’s approval “deeply disappointing”.
“There’s clear proof that the venture could have disastrous ecological impacts,” he mentioned in a put up on X, warning of “long-term penalties”.
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