Open letter to Social Welfare Department, Andaman & Nicobar Administration

Posted on June 18, 2024

On 23rd May 2024 the ‘Social Impact Assessment Study for Greenfield International Airport – Great Nicobar’ was submitted to the Directorate of Social Welfare, Andaman & Nicobar Administration Goal Ghar, Port Blair. According to the official website of the Andaman and Nicobar administration, the draft SIA report was published in English on 4th June 2024 and on 11th June in Hindi. This report seems to have a lot of discrepancies as highlighted by us (below) and many other collectives and organisations who have expressed concerns. The SIA in its current form cannot be taken as an authentic account of the social impact of all the stakeholders involved.

Presented below is our appeal (in detail) sent to the Department of Social Welfare on 18th June 2024 at 16:28, which appeals for a fair and free public hearing for all local inhabitants of the Great Nicobar Island and a revision of the SIA report to make it more socially sound and inclusive.

“To, Social Welfare Department, Andaman & Nicobar Administration,

We are a group of concerned and environmentally conscious citizens from New Delhi, writing to highlight the legal irregularities in the approach to conducting the public hearing and drafting the Social Impact Assessment (SIA) Report for the Greenfield Airport in Great Nicobar Island under the ‘Holistic Development of Great Nicobar Island’ project.

The progression of this project is of great apprehension to multiple people and with good reason however, the concerns of the Tribal Council of Little and Great Nicobar have to be given primary stature as in November 2022 they had withdrawn the no-objection certificate (NOC) given in August 2022 for the diversion of land — roughly half of which is tribal reserve land. This withdrawal makes the stage-1 forest clearance given to the project null and void. A petition was filed with the National Green Tribunal in Kolkata, who ordered the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MOEFFC) to establish a High Powered Committee, to review deficiencies in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). Pending the committee's report, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) temporarily halted the project. It is currently unclear whether the High Powered Committee has been successful in completing this task as per their duty and to the satisfaction of the NGT’s orders, nothing about the same has been presented in the public domain.

It is concerning to us that despite this many discrepancies and transgressions from the proper mandated legal procedures a Social Impact Assessment report has been formulated. The SIA report has been prepared and pushed through in a hurry to obtain comments. Below are our serious objections to the Social Impact Assessment Report prepared by Probe Research and Social Development Pvt. Limited, an organisation with its headquarters in Delhi.

The rushed scheduling of the public hearing
As per the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Social Impact Assessment and Consent) Rules, 2014, the draft SIA report must be published in the local language three weeks before a public hearing and distributed to affected Gram Panchayats and Municipal offices. According to the Andaman and Nicobar administration's official website, the draft SIA report was released in English on June 4 and in Hindi on June 11. Therefore, under the law, the public hearing cannot take place before July 2, three weeks after the Hindi version was made available. However, the current schedule sets the public hearing just ten days after the release of the Hindi version.
Violation of the A&N Islands Protection of Aboriginal Tribes Regulation (ANIPATR)
The Social Impact Assessment also violates the A&N Islands Protection of Aboriginal Tribes Regulation (ANIPATR), notified through the presidential Proclamation in 1956 under Article 243(2) of the Constitution, as it doesn't mention the impact of the Greenfield Airport Project on the Shompen and Nicobarese tribes. A letter by E.A.S Sarma has further explained in the letter addressed to the Social Welfare Department of the A&N Administration. Moreover, the Land Acquisition Act of 2013 stipulates that the SIA must assess how the acquisition could affect the local community. This community cannot be limited to only the settlers and their neighbours. It must also encompass the tribal groups residing in the Tribal Reserve on the island, whose lives will be significantly and negatively impacted by the project. These tribal groups should be regarded as integral parts of the local community, and any assessment of t he land acquisition that fails to consider their situation should be deemed inadequate and disregarded. Furthermore, a study like this should ideally be placed before the Tribal Council constituted under Section 3(1) of ANIPATR for their prior consent, without which the whole process of the SIA would stand legally vitiated.
Disregard for Policy on Shompen Tribe of Great Nicobar Island, 2015
The A&N Administration approved detailed guidelines on the "Policy on Shompen Tribe of Great Nicobar Island" through its gazetted notification on 22nd May 2015.
Para 6.3 of the notification states, “With regard to large scale development proposals in the future for Great Nicobar Island such as transhipment container terminal etc., the welfare and integrity of the Shompen community should be given priority and be reviewed in consultation with the Department of Tribal Welfare and Andaman Administration Janjati Vikas Samiti and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.” Despite this formally notified policy by the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs to protect the Shompens, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC) has chosen to ignore it entirely, pushing through statutory environment clearance for the project citing it as a priority as a "strategic" project.

It is essential to preserve the welfare and integrity of the Shompen, Nicobarese, and other communities in the Great Nicobar Islands amid the Greenfield Airport project. Additionally, there should also be a stronger push for adequate consultation with these communities at every step of the decision-making process. Hence, we urge you to redo and revise the Social Impact Assessment Report with adequate consultation from all concerned stakeholders and push for the public hearing to be conducted on a later date, according to the provisions of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Social Impact Assessment and Consent) Rules, 2014.

Regards,
There Is No Earth B Community”

There Is No Earth B is committed to doing right by the community and the ecology of the Great Nicobar Island both of which are at great risk by the ‘Holistic Development of Great Nicobar Island’ project, as warned by many national and international experts. There Is No Earth B has been working on protecting the rights of Great Nicobar’s biodiversity and marginalised communities since 2022 and has run the Save Nicobar Campaign mobilising thousands of citizens to stand in solidarity with the indigenous communities of Nicobar and protect its pristine forests and endemic species. Several organisations and collectives have helped us raise awareness for the situation in Great Nicobar, the following organisations stand in solidarity with this message.

More info on #SaveNicobar, here.