Of this amount, ₹2,220 crore, or nearly 25%, is for conservation plans for different species and ecosystems by institutions that include the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON), Coimbatore, Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal, the Zoological and Botanical Surveys of India (ZSI & BSI), and the Andaman and Nicobar Forest Department (ANFD). On the surface, ₹2,220 crore would seem a very large amount, and perhaps welcome too.

The problem, however, lies in the fact that those getting this money are the very institutions — WII, ZSI and the ANFD — that facilitated the wildlife and environment clearances in the first place. ZSI, which did an important part of the assessment report leading up to the environment clearance and was also part of the National Green Tribunal (NGT)-appointed high powered committee that dismissed a host of environmental concerns, stands to gain funding of more than ₹1,000 crore over 30 years for three projects it will execute. ANFD has agreed to hand over large areas of pristine forest and biodiversity-rich habitat for the project and now stands to receive ₹72 crore for work on two projects.

The case of WII, considered India’s premier wildlife research institute, is particularly illustrative — and heart-breaking. It is linked to Galathea Bay in Great Nicobar Island, a very important nesting for four marine turtle species, including the Giant Leatherback, the largest of all marine turtles that has also been around since the time of the dinosaurs. More than 400 leatherback nestings are regularly recorded annually at Galathea Bay, making this one of its most important nesting sites in the northern Indian Ocean. India’s National Marine Turtle Action Plan, released in January 2021, too listed Galathea Bay as one of the country’s most important turtle nesting beaches; 11.44 sq kms of the bay, including the beaches there, were declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1997 for conserving precisely this unique system and its rare inhabitants.

And then it was decided that Galathea Bay will be the site for the ₹40,000 crore trans-shipment port, the centrepiece of the ₹81,000 crore mega-infra project. The sanctuary would have to go and the denotification was facilitated with minimum fuss in the 60th meeting of the standing committee of the National Board for Wildlife held in January 2021. In attendance as an important member was the then director of the WII, Dhananjai Mohan. Not only did he not oppose the denotification but opined that “the concerned authorities develop and implement a mitigation plan to facilitate leatherback and other turtles to continuously nest (...) near (emphasis added) the Galathea Bay”. He concurred further that “the preservation and conservation of the leatherback turtle habitat will not be compromised even if the area is de-notified”.

This is impossible and defies logic given that the port design itself proposes to close the mouth of Galathea Bay by 90% — from the current 3 km to a mere 300 m to ensure passage for shipping. The turtles might not be able to even reach the beach anymore, leave alone complete their nesting activities. In a shocking response to an RTI query a few months later, WII admitted it had never conducted any study ever on the leatherback turtles in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

It is the same WII that has now put together three proposals for a cumulative amount of ₹391.52 crore for management and conservation of wildlife here. The single largest component, of ₹237.45 crore, is ironically, and tragically, for the “conservation and long-term monitoring of leatherback sea turtle”. The actual money that will flow into the coffers of WII is much more. Added to its ₹391.52 crore will be another ₹376.46 crore for the seven proposals put in by SACON, which was merged with WII in 2023.

WII that has never worked on sea turtles in these islands was allowed to sign away one of the world’s most important turtle nesting sites that it knows nothing about. They stand to now get funding to the tune of ₹768 crores for 30 years. At ₹25 crore per year, this is already 50% of the ₹52.32 crore allocated for the institute in the latest Union budget.

One might never have imagined that one clearance could lead to such substantial benefits. A question about this is surely a legitimate one to ask.

Pankaj Sekhsaria is the author of The Great Nicobar Betrayal. The views expressed are personal