The Google Maps image shows Great Nicobar Island.
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands administration has prepared a map for the denotification and re-notification of tribal reservation areas for the Great Nicobar Island mega-infrastructure project and will soon finalize the sites for the towers in these lands. The administration also said that transit accommodation has been constructed to initially serve all staff of the Great Nicobar Island project and that the “Comprehensive Tribal Welfare Plan” is expected to be completed by next month.
The administration made a presentation to this effect to the monitoring committee of the Andaman and Nicobar Integrated Development Corporation (ANIIDCO), which oversees tribal affairs regarding the ₹92,000 crore infrastructure project proposed on Great Nicobar Island, which includes a transshipment terminal, airport, power plant and a township. The project is being developed by ANIIDCO, although the forest and environment clearances issued for the project are subject to disputes in courts and tribunals.
In a tribal affairs monitoring committee meeting held in October, the tribal welfare department of the island administration noted that a Geographical Information System (GIS) map had been prepared for land marking and renotification with the help of the forest department. Besides, the sites for the towers will be finalized after consultation with the Deputy Commissioner of Campbell Bay and Andaman Adi Janjati Vikas Samiti, the governing body representing the people of Shompen.
Any designation of tribal reserve land for the HND project requires forest rights to first be settled under the Forest Rights Act, 2006. This finalization of maps for designation comes even as the Calcutta High Court hears petitions challenging the administration’s claim that it has settled forest rights here under the Act.
The monitoring committee meeting in October also decided that the Comprehensive Tribal Welfare Plan would include “consideration” of the Nicobar Scheduled Tribe community’s demand to return to their ancestral land from where they were first displaced due to the 2004 tsunami, according to the minutes of the meeting.
This demand has been at the center of the opposition of the Little and Great Nicobar Tribal Councils against the HND project, through which they say their ancestral villages fall within the project area and that forest rights over these lands have never been initiated or settled. The Nicobarese say they want to return to their villages, a matter that Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi wrote to the tribal affairs minister in September.
The monitoring committee said the decision to include this “consideration” in the tribal plan was in response to tribal council submissions sent on August 27 of this year. In addition, the monitoring committee said it was also decided to include data on tribal populations and settlements before the tsunami period in the tribal plan. It also decided to incorporate the Nicobarese demands for “housing, agricultural land, employment and compensation along with social infrastructure and connectivity needs” in the tribal plan.
However, there is no demand for housing, agricultural land, employment or compensation, according to a representation of the tribal council on August 27, seen by The Hindu. In the letter, the Tribal Council called for a road link to their ancestral village, which included extending the current road that leads to Indira Point. He further reiterated that “we do not want any infrastructure to be located in the area designated as Tribal Reserve or other areas used by us and the Shompen community”.
The tribal council pointed to an earlier letter where it said its approval for the establishment of basic infrastructure such as roads “should not be seen as approval for a large-scale project that involves the destruction of forests and tribal areas”.
The minutes of the ANIIDCO monitoring committee meeting in October this year further state that the government has also approved in principle the Great Nicobara research proposals including ‘Shompen Katha’ for the ongoing financial year. The tribal welfare department added that timelines for health, surveillance and protection schemes have been prepared and identification of overlapping schemes has been completed.
Published – 03 Nov 2025 20:20 IST
