A National Green Tribunal special bench cleared the Rs 800 billion (Rs 800 bn) Great Nicobar infrastructure project after finding no good ground to interfere in the environmental clearance and recording that adequate safeguards had been incorporated. The six-member bench was headed by chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava and treated the project as having strategic importance that required a balanced approach. The tribunal disposed of petitions that had challenged aspects of the approval and directed authorities to ensure compliance with conditions. The project spans 166 sq km, entails diversion of 130 sq km of forest and the felling of almost one million (one mn) trees, and envisages a transshipment port, an integrated township, a civil and military airport and a 450-MVA gas and solar power based plant. The approval followed a review by a high-powered committee formed after an earlier tribunal order. The Centre has advanced the plan amid objections about ecological harm and local dispossession concerns. Petitions alleged violations of the Island Coastal Regulation Zone notification of 2019 and non-compliance with the tribunal’s 2023 directions, claiming parts of the scheme fell in prohibited areas. The tribunal examined the high-powered committee’s findings and recorded that no part fell in the prohibited zone, noting that the Environment Ministry did not make the committee report public and that the tribunal had relied on findings produced in an affidavit by the Centre. Submissions from the Zoological Survey of India on coral presence were considered. The tribunal set conditions for protection of the leatherback sea turtle, the Nicobar megapode, saltwater crocodiles, the robber crab, the Nicobar macaque and other endemic birds and required the ministry to implement these measures. It directed steps to prevent shoreline erosion, safeguard sandy beaches as nesting sites and ensure protection and scientific regeneration of coral along the coastal stretch, including translocation where necessary. The order is likely to serve as a reference point for future strategic projects in ecologically sensitive areas.