Objection to Forest Clearance for Great Nicobar Island (GNI) Project
According to a recent report, the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) has drawn attention to alleged discrepancies with regard to forest clearance granted for the Great Nicobar Island (GNI) project.
Great Nicobar Island Project:
- The Great Nicobar Island (GNI) Project is a comprehensive project designed for the southern tip of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
- The Great Nicobar Development Plan of NITI Aayog aims to promote the overall development of Greater Nicobar.
- The project includes construction of an international container trans-shipment terminal, a Greenfield international airport, a power plant and a township complex.
- Under this plan, a total of 244 sq km of green forest and coastal areas are to be used within the boundaries of the biosphere reserve.
- The proposed joint military-civilian, dual-use airport will be under the operational control of the Indian Navy. The estimated expenditure on this project is about Rs 72,000 crore.
- For this project, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation (ANIIDCO), is the nodal agency.
Key Facts:
- Citing alleged violations of the provisions of the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006, the NCST has reportedly issued notices to district functionaries in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands on the grounds that the proposed project would affect the rights of local tribals. Also that NCST was not consulted in this matter.
- The implementation report prepared by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs reveals that
- Under the FRA, the island administration neither recognized the forest rights of the local tribals nor granted them ownership of forest land, which is a necessary step before Phase-I clearance under the Forest Conservation Amendment Rules, 2017.
- The project, being implemented by the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation (ANIIDCO), comprises a transshipment port, airport, power plant and greenfield township.
- The project aims to utilize about 7.114 sq km of tribal reserve forest land, where the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) called Shompen and the Nicobarese tribes live. The government says that the local people will not be displaced for the project.
- According to Rule 6 (3) (e) of Forest Conservation Amendment Rules-2017, diversion of forest land for any other purpose will first require the District Collector to recognize the forest rights of local tribal under FRA and confer ownership of the forest land on them.
- Only then do these rules allow the authorities to obtain the consent of the rights-holding village panchayats for the diversion of this land.
- It has been the contention of the island administration that the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Protection of Aboriginal Tribes) Act, 1956 (PAT56) is applicable in the islands. It already provides for “full protection of the interests” of forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribes.
- Under PAT56, a significant portion of forest land in Great Nicobar has been earmarked as a Tribal Reserve, on which local tribals have been given rights to use and collect resources when necessary for their daily lives.
- The power to notify and withdraw notification of land as a Tribal Reserve rests entirely with the Insular Administrator under PAT56.
- FRA provides for the recognition of comprehensive community rights over forest land. The law empowers forest communities to control and manage the use of forest land they own and mandates their consent for the diversion of this land.
Source – The Hindu
