Port Blair, Nov 09 2020
Tarun Karthick
The residents of the revenue villages of Gandhi Nagar and Shastri Nagar are violating the provisions of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Protection of Aboriginal Tribes) Regulation, 1956 everyday, just merely by living in their lands and permanent tsunami shelters allotted to them by the Andaman and Nicobar Administration.
330 Ex-Servicemen families were settled in Great Nicobar Island under a Union Government Sponsored Rehabilitation Scheme, the settlement began in 1969. Under the rehabilitation scheme the Ex-Servicemen Settlers were provided with agricultural land and house sites in different areas of Great Nicobar Islands.
As the scheme progressed some settlers were also provided land beyond 24 Km mark on the North-South Road. At the 24 Km mark on North-South Road in Great Nicobar Island lies the village of Laxmi Nagar which falls under the jurisdiction of Laxmi Nagar Gram Panchayat.
Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Protection of Aboriginal Tribes) Regulation, 1956 came into force on 1st Day of 1956 by a notification issued by the Chief Commissioner on 19th of June 1956. Further a notification was issued by the Chief Commissioner ANPATR/3(1)/1 dated 2nd of April 1957 which declared the entire area comprised in, enclosed within the coastline of Great Nicobar as Tribal Reserve Area.
Following which on 20th of April 1972 the Chief Commissioner of Andaman and Nicobar Islands by way of a notification, made amendments to Notification ANPATR/3(1)/1 dated 2nd of April 1957. The changes that were brought in the new notification for Great Nicobar were, that the area in between the Longitude 93 Degrees 50 Minutes East and 93 Degrees 57 Minutes East, Latitude 6 Degrees 53 Minutes North and 7 Degrees 2 Minutes North was excluded from the Tribal Reserve Area.
It seems that the intended move behind the exclusion of the area situated in between the above mentioned latitudes and longitudes, was to give legality to the settlement of Ex-Servicemen Settlers being made in Great Nicobar Island back then.
The settlement of the Ex-Servicemen Families started in the year 1969 and continued till 1980, when the last batch of 26 families were settled. The Ex-Servicemen Families who were inducted on or after 1974 were accommodated in transit barracks in Vijay Nagar-18 Km NS Road (Writes Mr. Tara Singh Pabla in his book titled History of Great Nicobar Island The Ascent). So the probability is that the settlement in villages beyond Vijay Nagar began after 1974.
Problem which arises today is, the area excluded by the Chief Commissioner from Tribal Reserve Area by notification on 20th of April 1972, when plotted on a map excludes the revenue villages beyond the Laxmi Nagar Village. Two main villages lie south of Laxmi Nagar on the North-South Road namely Gandhi Nagar and Shastri Nagar which has considerable population, agricultural land, house sites and community assets which officially is a Tribal Reserve Area. (Map Plotted on Google Earth Using the Latitudes and Longitudes as mentioned in the notification of Chief Commissioner Dated 20th of April 1972 can be downloaded and viewed from the following link (Tribal Reserve is outside the Yellow Boundaries): https://nicobartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Great-Nicobar-Overview-With-Tribal-Reserve-Boundary.png)
Great Nicobar was recently removed from the list of Islands under the Restricted Area Permit Regime, making way for foreigners to visit the Great Nicobar Island without prior permission of the Government, apparently the areas of Great Nicobar which are not part of the Tribal Reserve are the only places these tourists can visit without a tribal pass.
The residents of Great Nicobar were happy about the fact that now foreign and domestic tourists will also visit Great Nicobar which will create new employment opportunities for the youth.
It has been reported that when a tourist couple visited Great Nicobar about 1.5 years back, a high ranking forest official stopped them near Laxmi Nagar and asked their guide to take them back to Campbell Bay as it is not allowed for tourists to go beyond Laxmi Nagar Village. This move of the forest official had created a lot of confusion back then in Great Nicobar and the issue later subsided since the Island only receives a few tourists per month. The reason for the forest officer stopping the tourist couple can be understood now after some research. (Map Plotted on Google Earth Showing the Laxmi Nagar Village and Tribal Reserve Boundary can be viewed or downloaded from the following link: https://nicobartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Great-Nicobar-Laxmi-Nagar-Village-with-Tribal-Village-Boundary.png)
Apparently the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Protection of Aboriginal Tribes) Regulation, 1956 applies to the villages of Gandhi Nagar and Shastri Nagar of Great Nicobar Island because the area in which these villages fall, were not excluded in the notification of Chief Commissioner Dated 20th of April 1972. The issue was also not revisited later by the Andaman and Nicobar Administration.
(Map Plotted on Google Earth Showing Gandhi Nagar Village can be viewed or downloaded from the following link: https://nicobartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Gandhi-Nagar-Village-Located-Inside-the-Tribal-Reserve.png)
Gandhi Nagar and Shastri Nagar villages are the best places in Great Nicobar Islands for tourism because of its long beaches, scenic views and availability of basic facilities. Since these villages has been omitted for unknown reasons from the excluded area of tribal Reserve, the residents will not be able to take tourists there and develop tourists facilities.
(Map Plotted on Google Earth Showing Shastri Nagar Village can be viewed or downloaded from the following link: https://nicobartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Shastri-Nagar-Village-Located-Inside-the-Tribal-Reserve.png)
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Further the residents of these villages are practically violating several provisions of Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Protection of Aboriginal Tribes) Regulation, 1956 and The Andaman and Nicobar (Protection of Aboriginal Tribes) Amendment Regulation, 2005, without even knowing it and just by living in lands allotted to them by the Govt.
Any trade or business being run in Gandhi Nagar and Shastri Nagar villages of Great Nicobar is illegal and warrants a permit from the Lt. Governor before business can be conducted. Similarly even entering these villages is illegal without a permit and one can be punished with imprisonment for two years with fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees in both the cases.
The Andaman and Nicobar Administration especially the Nicobar District Administration should take note of this unique situation and should bring amendment to the Notification of the Chief Commissioner Dated 20th of April 1972 , to exclude the revenue areas of Great Nicobar completely from Tribal Reserve. So that the settlers of Great Nicobar especially those residing in the villages of Gandhi Nagar and Shastri Nagar can conduct their business freely and can live without any legal hassles in the future.
Nicobar Times will publish the views of the Officers of Andaman and Nicobar Administration, the settlers of Great Nicobar, Public Representatives and Dr. Manish Chandi (who has previously raised the issue with Andaman and Nicobar Administration).
Link to ANPAT Regulation 1957 : http://www.and.nic.in/archives/C_Charter/Dir_tw/2012/PAT1956.pdf
(Disclaimer: The Maps were plotted on the free tools available online. The maps enclosed depicts an estimated boundary of the tribal reserve, the maps should not be used for scaling and measurement of the Tribal Reserve Area or the exclusion zone. Nicobar Times has tried its best to maintain the accuracy of the maps according to the information available, but errors are inevitable.)
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