‘Holistic Development’: Keep airport secret, said Home, but wraps on clearance of entire Great Nicobar project

The FAC is an expert body that examines and authorises diversion of forest land for projects.

Besides the airport, the “Holistic Development of Great Nicobar Island” project proposes: Rs 72,000-crore township (149.60 sq km); a container transhipment terminal (7.66 sq km); and a power plant (0.4 sq km).

Requiring to divert 130 sq km of forest land and cut 8.5 lakh trees, the project is facing widespread opposition for its impact on the island’s forest and coastal ecology and the indigenous tribes.

In May 2022, the ministry’s Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC), which examines infrastructure projects for environmental clearance, put on record that as per the Ministry of Home Affairs, the proposed international airport will be “developed as a joint military-civil, dual-use airport, under the operational control of Indian Navy.”

It said that the “project is for Defence, Strategic, National Security, and Public Purpose. In view of this, the portion of deliberation made for Airport component may not be made public due (to) its strategic nature.”

Accordingly, the EAC recorded a detailed discussion on the environmental aspect of the project, withholding from its minutes only matters related to the strategic airport. It cleared the project subject to forest clearance by the FAC.

Five months later, on October 27, 2022, the Environment Ministry issued the in-principle approval (Stage-I forest clearance) for the diversion of 130.75 sq km of forest land in favour of Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation for sustainable development in Great Nicobar “on the basis of the recommendations” of the FAC.

There is no information on when the FAC met and cleared the proposal.

Indeed, between October 7, 2020, when the project proposal was received by the Ministry, and October 27, when the clearance was granted, the FAC met, in all, 26 times.

The ministry has published the agenda and minutes of each of these meetings on its website but none has any mention of the Great Nicobar development project.

Asked why the project is missing altogether from the FAC agenda and minutes, an official involved with the Stage-I forest clearance said: “The FAC details are not in the public domain because it’s a strategic project. Only the competent authority can comment further.”

Emails and messages were sent to the ministry’s Director General of Forest and Inspector General of Forest — the ex-officio chairman and member-secretary, respectively, of the FAC — but neither was available for comment.

The Indian Express contacted the three independent expert members of the FAC. Dr Sanjay Deshmukh, former vice-chancellor of Mumbai University, and Dr Anmol Kumar, former director general of Forest Survey of India, declined to comment.

SD Vora, former Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest of Gujarat, said he did not “immediately recall discussing specific projects”.

The FAC is a statutory body constituted under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 to advise the government on granting approvals for forest clearance. It meets at least once a month to discuss proposals from an agenda pre-published by the ministry which also uploads the minutes of FAC meetings on its designated website.