News: The Great Nicobar Island mega infrastructure project has raised concerns after Tribal Council members alleged pressure to surrender ancestral lands in three bays.
About Galathea Bay, Pemmaya Bay, and Nanjappa Bay
- Location: Galathea Bay lies on the south-eastern coast of Great Nicobar Island, while Pemmaya Bay and Nanjappa Bay are located along the western coast of the island.
- Major tribes: These bays are traditional habitats of the Nicobarese and Shompen tribal communities.
- The Nicobarese are a largely settled community, while the Shompen are a semi-nomadic hunter-gatherer group living deep inside forests.
- Biodiversity and ecology
- Great Nicobar Island is covered largely by rainforests and forms part of the Sundaland biodiversity hotspot extending to Southeast Asia.
- Galathea Bay is a major global nesting site of the endangered giant leatherback turtle.
- International Port: Galathea Bay is the proposed site of the International Container Transshipment Port (ICTP) under the Great Nicobar Island Development Project.
- The port has a natural depth of more than 20 m and was notified as India’s 13th major port in September 2024 and named asKamarajar Port.
- Issues: Parts of Galathea Bay, Pemmaya Bay, and Nanjappa Bay require diversion of forest land where tribal villages existed before the 2004 tsunami.
- A wildlife sanctuary in Galathea Bay was denotified earlier to facilitate the port project, even though the area was classified as CRZ-1A.
- Environmental clearances are under challenge before the National Green Tribunal, while forest clearances are being heard in the Calcutta High Court.
