Centre submits report on Great Nicobar project to NGT in sealed envelope, says Rs 80 crore released for conservation efforts

The bench granted time to the applicant’s counsel to file a rejoinder to the environment ministry’s additional affidavit and adjourned the matter.

“It is humbly submitted that the report of the high-powered committee, along with the relevant documents, has been brought in a sealed envelope for the kind perusal of this Tribunal,” the environment ministry stated in its affidavit.

The six-member NGT bench was hearing on-going matters filed by environmental activist and researcher Ashish Kothari on alleged environmental violations in the project.

The ministry’s additional affidavit was filed in response to NGT’s directions in March to place on record the follow-up actions and outcomes after the HPC revisited the project’s statutory environmental clearance.

“…no document or decision with application of mind and the outcome of revisit to the EC has been placed on record or shown,” the six-member bench noted in its order on March 24.

The ministry had sought adjournment to ascertain if the decision of revisiting the environmental clearance was recorded on paper.

‘Unanswered deficiencies’

The HPC was formed in April 2023 on the orders of the NGT to address “unanswered deficiencies” regarding the impact of the mega project involving a port and airport pertaining to coral conservation, location of the port in a prohibited area , and on limited baseline data collection. The NGT had not interfered with the environmental and forest clearances granted for the project.

The HPC had concluded that the project’s environmental clearance and coastal regulation zone clearance adhered to the instant statutory provisions. It had said that no part of the project fell in out of bounds coastally sensitive areas, while regarding corals, it had said citing the Zoological Survey of India that 16,510 coral colonies close to the project needed to translocated, as per an affidavit filed by the environment ministry last year.
The HPC’s report is yet to be made public as the Centre has deemed it confidential.

The Rs 81,000-crore project involves building of an integrated international container transshipment terminal, a township, a civil- and military-use airport and a 450 MVA gas- and solar-based power plant. Spread over 166 sq km, it will require diversion of 130.75 sq km of forests, felling of over a million trees, as per official estimates.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation Limited (ANIIDCO) is implementing the project.

After preparing the report, the HPC forwarded it to the Andaman and Nicobar Island administration, which was directed to take appropriate action regarding the conclusions and recommendations. Further, it said that in compliance of the HPC’s report, an overarching committee was formed in January 2024, comprising the chief secretary of Andaman and Nicobar Administration, and representatives of the Wildlife Institute of India, Botanical Survey of India, Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), and ANIIDCO, among others.

According to the affidavit, this committee met on March 4, and it was noted that Rs 88.69-crore funds were sanctioned to ANIIDCO by the Ministry for Home Affairs for wildlife conservation plans and a special medical unit, in compliance with the environmental clearance and coastal regulation zone clearance. To be sure, this amount is only for expenditure in the first year. The environment management plan for wildlife conservation, compensatory afforestation, tribal welfare plan, and conservation and mitigation measures during construction and operation is likely to cost Rs 9,162 crore in total, as per official documents.

“Accordingly, as on date, an amount of Rs 80.84 crore has been released to various research institutes and APWD (Andaman Public Works Department),” a copy of the March meeting’s minutes showed.

Out of the Rs 80.84 crore released, Rs 15.72 crore was released to the Wildlife Institute of India for undertaking conservation plans for leatherback sea turtles, Nicobar megapode, and saltwater crocodile. The Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology got Rs 24.5 crore for undertaking conservation plans for bird hazard risk assessment for the proposed airport, conservation of coconut crab, and long-tailed macaque.

An amount of Rs 23.55 crore was released to the ZSI for undertaking conservation and management of coral reefs of the Great Nicobar Island, and conservation management for intertidal marine fauna of the Great Nicobar Island.
“It is submitted that, apart from addressing the issues raised by the NGT, the HPC also deliberated on several issues related to the implementation of the EC/CRZ conditions, logistic, and financial support to committees and the organization/institutions, constitution of the overarching committee,” the environment ministry affidavit stated.