A draft plan to relocate Nicobarese tribal families affected by the Great Nicobar Island project has caused confusion among locals over unclear relocation sites and consent. Circulated by the Andaman and Nicobar administration on March 13, it proposes spending ₹42.52 crore over 24 months. The Tribal Council has requested a Hindi translation and more time to review.
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands administration has prepared a draft "Comprehensive Tribal Welfare Plan" proposing the relocation of Nicobarese tribal communities from tsunami-affected or project-impacted areas "to their ancestral lands." This ties to the ₹92,000-crore Great Nicobar Island (GNI) mega-infrastructure project. The plan allocates ₹42.52 crore over 24 months for housing, land development, and infrastructure, mentioning Rajiv Nagar (32 households, 101 persons) and New Chingenh (30 households, 117 persons), with Pulobhabi suggested for community purposes.
Members of the Great and Little Nicobar Tribal Council received a copy on March 28 and attended meetings in Campbell Bay to approve it. At an April 1 meeting, they submitted a letter highlighting unclear aspects, including an imprecise map, and requested a Hindi translation plus at least a month for review. A council leader noted Pulobhabi is just one of many pre-tsunami ancestral villages along the west coast.
On March 30, the Union government told a Calcutta High Court bench it needed 15 days to demonstrate consent from tribal people, amid petitions challenging the project's clearances for violating consent and forest rights of Nicobarese and Shompen communities.
The communities withdrew consent in 2022 after Stage-I clearance, alleging unsettled forest rights under the 2006 Forest Rights Act—a claim reiterated in the council's April 1 letter, which the draft plan does not address. Tribal Council chief Barnabas Manju reiterated demands for return to all west coast ancestral villages, destroyed in the 2004 tsunami, during a March 20 meeting in New Delhi. Tables in the draft add ambiguity, planning upgrades for 62 homes but only 30 new ones, without clear sites, while the Centre maintains the project will not disturb or displace tribes.
