Over 9.6 lakh trees are set to be axed for a “holistic” infrastructural project on Great Nicobar Island, as its quasi-government agency, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation, has set the ball rolling by issuing an expression of interest, a prelude to the bidding process. 

Under the Great Nicobar Island Project – spread over 130.75 sq km of forest area – the government plans to build an international container transshipment terminal, a greenfield international airport, a power plant, and a township for at least three lakh people. The development authority has called for expression of interest for the felling of trees for the township that is likely to occupy more than 93 percent, or 122.03 sq km, of the total forest area. 

This call for proposals for “enumeration, felling, logging, and transportation” of trees on August 28 is likely the first of its kind, where a government body has sought private participation at this scale. Earlier, tree cutting was done by the forest department in association with small contractors in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a source privy to the matter said. 

Environmentalists have raised questions over the move, as two cases challenging the project are pending in the National Green Tribunal and the Calcutta High Court. 

Debi Goenka, executive trustee of Mumbai-based advocacy group Conservation Action Trust, termed the EOI “technically” wrong as the project is yet to get the final forest clearance [Stage 2] from the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.

ANIIDCO’s general manager of projects, Mohammed Pervaiz, was not immediately available for comments. 

The government agency, however, has listed the benefits of the civilian-defence project in the EOI. It stated that the port would establish India as a global player in cargo transshipment, bring economic prosperity to local residents, and help the country counter “the pressure being built by foreign powers’ growing presence” in the Indian Ocean region.

“ANIIDCO would, subsequent to the EOI, take up a transparent and competitive bidding process for the selection of agency for enumeration, felling, logging, and transportation trees for Holistic Development of the Great Nicobar Island Project,” said the local government agency. The last date for the submission of the EOI is September 30.

As per the EOI document, tree felling for the township would be undertaken in three phases between 2025 and 2047. In the first phase from 2025 to 2035, as much as 10.45 sq km of forest land would be affected by tree cutting; 12.18 sq km from 2035 to 2041; and 25.13 sq km from 2042 to 2047. In the first phase, around 30 percent of the felling area would be developed in the initial five years. 

The EOI document does not mention how many trees would be cut in each phase.

Referring to the environment and forest clearance conditions, the document states that trees can’t be cut all at once. “No trees will be cut at one go. These will be done in a phased manner, depending on the progress of the work on an annual basis. The plan for cutting trees should be developed by the project proponent [ANIIDCO] and get approved by the state forest department,” read the document. The government agency also cited earlier Supreme Court directives for the cutting of trees in a phased manner.

Detailing the scope of work, ANIIDCO said that interested parties have to prepare an inventory of trees by “marking, capturing data like name of the species, girth at breast height, height of tree, volume of tree”. It has also sought a phase-wise plan for annual tree cutting under the supervision of the forest department and the procedure of logging and transportation.

“The selected agency will submit the progress report on a monthly basis and the area-wise tree inventory report along with the annexure, thematic maps, photography, videos, drone survey images, and remote sensing imagery,” read the document.

Court cases and total trees axed

As per the in-principle (Stage-1) forest approval granted by the Union environment ministry in October 2022, out of the total forest area earmarked for the project, as much as 64.76 sq km will be affected by tree felling. The EOI document for the township stated that 47.75 sq km would be affected by tree cutting.

In July this year, environment minister Bhupendra Yadav informed the Lok Sabha that 9.64 lakh trees would be axed for the entire project. His statement was in response to a question by AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi on whether more than 10 lakh trees would be cut for the project. Earlier, while granting the stage 1 in-principle forest clearance in 2022, the central government’s estimate for trees felling was 8.5 lakh.

In another reply in the Rajya Sabha in August last year, the environment ministry said that Haryana “has agreed to provide an area of 261.5 sq km for compensatory afforestation” in lieu of the trees cut in Great Nicobar Island.

Meanwhile, Mumbai-based Conservation Action Trust and Ashish Kothari of Pune-based non-profit Kalpavriksh filed separate petitions before the NGT challenging the environmental, forest and coastal clearances for the Great Nicobar Island Project in 2022. 

In April last year, a six-member special bench of NGT led by then chairperson Adarsh Kumar Goel disposed of the petitions and observed in its order that the project was “compliant”. It, however, formed a high-powered committee, comprising government officials, to address “unanswered deficiencies” related to coastal regulations. There is no public information about whether the HPC has prepared and submitted any report as the government considers the project of “strategic” importance.

Kothari filed two more petitions in the matter with the eastern zone bench of the NGT in May this year, which are pending. One is related to the alleged violations of the coastal zone regulation notification 2019, seeking that parts of the projects in sensitive coastal areas be excluded. The second is related to the environment ministry’s silence on the workings of the HPC formed by the NGT special bench last year.

Last year, CAT also challenged the April 2023 NGT order in the Calcutta High Court, saying the special bench did not have jurisdiction to adjudicate the case and that the petitioners were not heard.

Goenka of CAT told Newslaundry, “They [ANIIDCO] don’t have the final clearance nor a statutory notification required under the law. In addition, the whole project is subjudice pending with the Calcutta High Court. Considering these, they technically shouldn’t be doing anything. Even as per the NGT order [by a special bench], a high-powered committee [formed by it] is supposed to submit a report. Where is that report? This is being treated as a secret document.”

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