There will be no environmental impact and no tribal will be displaced due to the Great Nicobar project, Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram said in the Rajya Sabha while asserting that the project is important for the country owing to its strategic location. Oram said this while replying to supplementaries during the question hour after several opposition members raised objections to the minister not giving a written reply to the question on tribals who are expected to be relocated as part of the project. He said China is sitting in Hambantota (Sri Lanka) while noting that "why should India leave our land". "This project is very important socio-economically and commercially in the interest of the country. We are merely 40 kms away from the sea route. That is why we cannot leave this," the minister said. TMC member Saket Gokhale and Congress' Jairam Ramesh asked why the minister has not replied to the question. Gokhale had asked on the action taken on concerns raised by the National .