New Delhi: The Lakshadweep administration’s plan to acquire 121,359 sqm (around 30 acres) of private land in Agatti Island for the development of beachfront facilities and a beach peripheral road has raised concerns among the residents of the island, most of them scheduled tribe population, regarding the environmental and cultural impact of such large-scale infrastructure in the tiny coral atoll.Agatti island is only 3.84 sq km in area, with a maximum length of 10 km. Lakshadweep overall has a land area of just about 32 sq km, consisting of 36 islands of which only 10 are inhabited.According to a Hindustan Times report, the preliminary notifications for this plan was issued on May 25. A social impact assessment study was carried out by the Social Impact Assessment & Consent Society (SIACS) in Kavaratti and a report was submitted.As per the preliminary notifications, the administration plans to acquire 42,940 sqm for the beach front and peripheral road on the western side of the island and 78,419 sqm on the eastern side of the island.“We have not been consulted at all on these developments. We are worried that such developments will have a huge impact on people and the local environment. These coral atolls cannot withstand such pressure,” Abdul Jaleel, a resident, told the daily.Another resident pointed to the scores of recent development projects, in tourism and other infrastructure that have raised anxieties among the people regarding the future of their land and identity. Many fear that the administration wants locals to be banished from the islands.Meanwhile, Shivam Chandra, collector, Lakshadweep, told the daily that this is only a preliminary notice and that “all concerned parties will be given statutory time to raise objections”, after which the final plan will be released.Residents of Lakshadweep have been protesting against the administration’s attempt to acquire 101,020 sqm of private land for tourism and other projects at Agatti Island, alleging that it was being done without the mandatory approval of gram sabhas and land owners as prescribed by law. The area of land sought to be acquired is a little over 3% of the total area of Agatti.In March, Frontline reported that proceedings for land acquisition had already been initiated. Meanwhile, all forms of local self-governance in the archipelago were in limbo for more than three years owing to ongoing litigation over the delimitation of the newly notified gram panchayats. Sitting Lok Sabha MP of Lakshadweep, Muhammed Hamdullah Sayeed of the Congress, had said that the projects would lead to large-scale displacement and loss of livelihoods, including demolition of houses and commercial shops.In July last year, HT has reported that a 24-year long study of the corals in the Lakshadweep archipelago found that corals declined to half of what they were in 1998 due to repeated marine heatwaves, exacerbated by climate change.