E-Paper
130 hectares tribal land to be diverted for Nicobar road project
The union environment ministry plans to divert 238.76 ha, including 130 ha of tribal reserve, for the Great Nicobar Trunk Infrastructure Road project.
New Delhi: An area of 130 hectares (ha) falling within a tribal reserve will be diverted for the Great Nicobar Trunk Infrastructure Road project, the union environment ministry has informed the Rajya Sabha.
Overall, an area of 238.76 ha is proposed to be diverted for the arterial road which includes 39.23 ha of government revenue land, 39.86 ha of private land, 10.62 ha of deemed forest, and 149.05 ha of protected forest. The area falling within the tribal reserve is 130.4 ha, the ministry said in response to a question. .
HT reported on June 20 that the Trunk Infrastructure Road that will cut through Great Nicobar Island (GNI) and connect all villages on it, will lead to large scale employment, facilitate business and also make “unconnected areas on the route prosper,” citing the draft social impact assessment (SIA) study for the project . The draft, published on A&N administration’s Directorate of Social Welfare website this week added that a large number of trees will need to be felled for the road and that tribal populations of Shompen and Nicobarese have agreed to the land diversion. It also claimed that the road project will not impact their way of life. Anthropologists have cautioned against the social impact of the road project especially on the tribes.
Kirti Vardhan Singh, minister of state for environment said as per information received from the UT Administration of Andaman and Nicobar, under the holistic development of Great Nicobar Island, an arterial road as a part of the master plan is proposed. The arterial road project is to be executed in a phased manner.
“UT Administration has further intimated that based on the sampling undertaken by the Forest Department, the estimated number of trees to be felled in the first phase of the construction of the arterial road is 12,428,” he added.
Singh was responding to questions by Narrain Dass Gupta, an AAP MP.
“The diversion of forest land for non-forest purposes is undertaken based on the provisions of the Van(Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam 1980 and Rules and Guidelines thereof. Accordingly, the diversion of forest land is allowed with conditions for raising of Compensatory afforestation and realization of Net Present Value (NPV). In addition to this, the additional mitigation measures in the form of Soil and Moisture Conservation works, Catchment Area Plan and Wildlife Management plan etc. are also stipulated on case-to-case basis,” Singh said.
Responding on the issue of consent of Shompen and Nicobarese communities, Singh said:
“’Land’ is a State subject and it is the responsibility of the concerned State/UT to comply with the provisions of all other Acts and Rules. As per the provisions of the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Rules, 2023, the State Government or Union territory Administration, as the case may be, shall issue order for diversion of forest land, only after fulfilment and compliance of the provisions of all other Acts and rules made thereunder, as applicable including ensuring settlement of rights under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest 15 Rights) Act, 2006.”
One of the conditions of the Environmental Clearance issued for the project was that a committee would be set up to exclusively oversee the welfare and issues related to Shompen and Nicobarese, Singh said. The clearance also asked that two other committees be set up, to oversee pollution and biodiversity related matters , he added.
HT has reported on several environmental concerns associated with the Great Nicobar Holistic Development project which is also coming up on the island.
The Great Nicobar Holistic Development Project has four major components: an international container transshipment terminal (ICCT); an international airport; a power plant; and a township. The total cost is estimated at ₹81,800 crore. The Nicobar Islands fall in the Sundaland Biodiversity Hotspot and cover the western half of the Indonesian archipelago.
