Even as the Calcutta High Court is set to hear challenges to the Centre’s Great Nicobar Island (GNI) project over allegations that the Forest Rights Act was violated while obtaining locals’ consent for it, the tribal council in Nicobar has now flagged further violations of the law in the government’s notification of three wildlife sanctuaries in the Little Nicobar, Menchal, and Meroe islands.
While acknowledging that its ₹92,000-crore development project to build an international container transhipment port, an airport, and a greenfield tourist township on the Great Nicobar Island would impact coral colonies, and nesting habitats of the leatherback turtle and the megapode, the Union government, in October 2022, notified the three sanctuaries to conserve these species, in parts of the Little Nicobar Island, Meroe Island and Menchal Island – all north of GNI.
However, since August 2022, the Tribal Council of Little and Great Nicobar has been writing to the Union government and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands administration, flagging that the process to notify these sanctuaries had been initiated without giving notice to members of their community who have lived on and maintained these islands for generations.
In a letter to the Assistant Conservator of Forests of the Nicobar Forest Division, the tribal council on April 23 this year, reiterated that the three sanctuaries on Little Nicobar Island, Meroe and Menchal Islands were announced without any consultation with the residents and traditional owners and caretakers of the islands. The council noted that of these three sites, Meroe and Menchal islands are of “high cultural and spiritual significance” to the Nicobarese; they believe the sites are home to the spirits of their ancestors.
The council was responding to a notice for a meeting of the committee constituted to determine the eco-sensitive zone around these three sanctuaries – the Leatherback Turtle Sanctuary in parts of LNI, the Megapode Sanctuary in all of Menchal Island, and the Coral Sanctuary on the entire Meroe Island. In the letter, the council said its chairman was not consulted before the committee was formed – he was merely informed that he was part of the committee, that too a month later.
The council said the notification for these sanctuaries should be revoked and the committee on eco-sensitive zones be dissolved, as they were against the wishes of the community.
Jairam Ramesh writes to Minister
Meanwhile, on Wednesday (May 13, 2026), Congress leader and former Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh wrote to Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram, asserting that consent procedures under the Forest Rights Act were violated in the case of the GNI project. The consent was sought through Gram Sabhas, which represented settler families, when it should have been sought through the Tribal Council of the Nicobarese communities, which are the people who have a claim over the forest land under the FRA.
He also questioned how the government-controlled Andaman Adim Janjati Vikas Samiti could grant consent for the project on behalf of the Shompen, a particularly vulnerable tribal group. Mr. Ramesh urged Mr. Oram to intervene and have the A&NI administration withdraw clearances granted under the law.
Days ago, Mr. Ramesh had also written to the Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav, flagging that the environmental impact studies for the project at GNI were rushed and did not include detailed studies over a number of seasons as required by the law.
Also Read | Confusion over clearances for Great Nicobar project persists
Villages in the dark
In 2022, even before the A&NI administration called Special Gram Sabhas to seek consent for diverting forest land on the Great Nicobar Island for the project, the administration, in April that year, notified its intention to declare wildlife sanctuaries for corals, megapode, and leatherback turtles in the three islands. In May, the administration sought objections or claims to these lands, and on July 19, the Nicobar Deputy Commissioner issued an order certifying that there were no objections to the notification and that no claims to the land had been received.
That year, in August, the Tribal Council of Little and Great Nicobar wrote to the district administration, noting that the July 19 order was issued without ensuring that the notice of the plans for the sanctuaries reached the residents of Little Nicobar Island. The council said that no announcement calling for objections or claims to the lands was made in the villages of Little Nicobar or in Rajiv Nagar in Great Nicobar, as required by the law.
The council explained that the Nicobarese have a traditional belief system passed on by their ancestors, “through which we manage the islands of Meroe and Menchal”. “We have a deep reverence for these islands since they harbour ancient spirits of our ancestors. Our customs and practices have ensured the integrity of all life on these islands remains intact,” the council said. It added that they were never asked how they had managed to keep these wildlife species intact on their beaches and outlying islands, “which we own and use as residential and plantation assets”.
Further, the council said the beaches of Little Nicobar Island, which have been declared as part of the Leatherback Turtle sanctuary, are actually owned by the villages of Bahua, Muhincoihn, and Kiyang along the western coast of the island, adding that none of the residents of these villages had been consulted on these plans.
However, in October 2022, the three sanctuaries were notified by the administration.
Forest rights of tribal people were not settled for Nicobar project: council
Sustained opposition
Since then, the Tribal Council has been consistently writing to local authorities and the Union government about their opposition to the declaration of the three wildlife sanctuaries, arguing that it would encroach upon their pre-existing rights on these lands, which they have been exercising to hold ritual hunts, maintain plantations, worship their ancestors, and conserve wildlife species around them.
In objections to the draft Island Coastal Regulation Zone plans for the three wildlife sanctuaries, the council has noted that these plans indicate possible eco-tourism activities on the islands, which “we do not want on our islands”. In these objections from November 2024, the council had also given a list of what these islands really needed, which included provisions for clean public toilets, community facilities, jetties, footpaths, ring wells for water, and cellular towers, among other infrastructure.
In an attempt to respond to the concerns raised by the tribal council, the Nicobar administration, in May 2025, issued a “clarification” noting that the declaration of the three sanctuaries would not affect the “hunting rights conferred on the Scheduled Tribes of the Nicobar Islands”. A month after this, the Tribal Council had once again written to the administration reiterating its objection to the sanctuaries.
Livelihood woes
The council added, “We do not use the coasts and the forests of our islands only for hunting – we depend on them for harvesting forest produce, wood for huts and canoes, and medicinal plants. There are many trees, rocks, etc., that are our places of worship and where we celebrate our festivals. In fact, Menchal and Meroe are also primary coconut resource regions for the southern Nicobarese. So simply by stating that we are exempt from hunting prohibition is not sufficient.”
Earlier this month, a Bench comprising the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court dismissed the preliminary objections raised by the Union government to the petitions alleging violation of the Forest Rights Act in diverting the forest land in GNI for its project. The court has posted the matter for final hearing in June this year.
