Congress MP and former Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has intensified his attack on the Centre over the controversial Great Nicobar Island Development Project, accusing the Modi government of relying on “grossly inadequate” environmental studies while keeping crucial review reports hidden from the public.In a letter written on Monday in Hindi to Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav, Ramesh questioned both the scientific basis and transparency of the environmental clearance process for the mega infrastructure project, which includes a transshipment port, airport, township and power infrastructure in the ecologically fragile Great Nicobar Island.Referring to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change’s FAQs issued on May 1, Ramesh said the government had claimed that the project’s “potential ecological impacts” had been “comprehensively identified, assessed, and are being effectively managed through a robust Environmental Impact Assessment process and a detailed Environmental Management Plan”.The Congress leader said he had already responded “in considerable detail” to those FAQs on May 3 and was now writing again after examining the ministry’s claims alongside official environmental documents and legal provisions.Calling the matter one of “grave public importance”, Ramesh argued that the Centre’s own environmental rules mandate comprehensive multi-season Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) studies for port projects in island ecosystems such as Great Nicobar.“The law mandates that port projects, especially those in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are subjected to comprehensive EIA studies,” he wrote.Citing the MoEF&CC’s Office Memorandum dated November 3, 2009, Ramesh said port projects in the islands “shall be subjected to Comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment including physical and mathematical modelling and ground verification”.He also referred to sector-specific EIA manuals and Annexure 6 guidelines, which require physical, chemical and biological data to be collected over two to three seasons in order to assess environmental impacts across different climatic conditions.Ramesh further pointed to the CRZ Notification, 2019, which mandates comprehensive EIAs for projects located along low and medium-eroding coastal stretches. He said ISRO’s 2021 coastal mapping had categorised substantial portions of the Galathea Bay shoreline as an eroding coast.Quoting former Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar’s 2015 Lok Sabha statement, Ramesh noted that the Centre had itself rejected proposals based on Rapid EIAs, saying one-season studies “may not address all the environmental concerns”.The Congress MP then alleged that the environmental clearance for the Rs 72,000 crore Great Nicobar project was granted on the basis of studies conducted over only a few days and weeks.According to the Final EIA report submitted in March 2022, environmental baseline studies were conducted only during the winter season between December 1, 2020, and February 28, 2021.“Thus, this 3 month i.e one season study is at best a Rapid EIA,” he wrote. Ramesh further claimed that the “Quick” primary biodiversity survey was conducted between December 14 and 22, 2020, while leatherback turtle surveys were carried out only between February 12 and 18, 2021.He also quoted the EIA report itself, which admitted that “what is uncovered so far is not complete and what is hidden may be even more valuable”.“It is evident that these studies, based on which environmental clearance has been granted, are not even rapid EIAs and are based on baseline data collection over a few days and weeks at best and are grossly inadequate. These reports are an insult to science and make a mockery of the EIA process,” Ramesh wrote.The Congress leader also questioned why the report of the High-Powered Committee (HPC), constituted following National Green Tribunal proceedings on the project, had been kept confidential.“I am at a complete loss to understand the logic and legality behind the claim of the MoEF&CC that the HPC’s report is confidential,” he wrote.Ramesh argued that when EIA reports, detailed project reports, township master plans and airport DPRs linked to the project were already in the public domain, there was no justification for withholding the HPC report.“In the interests of good governance and informed public debate, please make the HPC report public,” he said.In one of the sharpest sections of the letter, Ramesh warned that the island’s “globally unique” biodiversity would be destroyed by the mega project. “The compensatory afforestation argument is completely bogus and you know it,” he wrote, adding that India’s strategic and security needs could still be met “without inflicting such ecological devastation”.