Vikramaditya & John Wilbert
Port Blair, Dec 26: Ships and ferry boats are the life line of Andaman and Nicobar Islands but for reasons unknown the Shipping Service is struggling heavily to keep ships and ferry vessels fit for sailing, which is ultimately making life of Islanders miserable.
According to reports, presently out of 17 speed boats only three speed boats are fit for sailing. While MV Kamorta is deployed in Nancowry group of Islands, MV Rangat and MV Strait Island are deployed in Swaraj Dweep and Shaheed Dweep sectors.
This means as many as 14 other speed vessels are not fit for sailing, which is now putting heavy pressure on Shipping Services. Due to lack of speed vessels the Directorate of Shipping Services is forced to ply MV Coral Queen in Swaraj Dweep sector, which otherwise was best option for Port Blair- Diglipur, Mayabunder and Port Blair – Hut Bay sectors.
As the condition of ATR is pathetic, people of North Andaman are repeatedly demanding atleast two ships for Mayabunder and Diglipur in a week but due to lack of vessels this demand cannot be fulfilled. Even in Hut Bay sector there is a demand for more ships but again due to shortage of vessels, people are suffering.
One fails understand why the Shipping Corporation of India, SCI, which is the Technical Manning and Officer Manning agency for these vessels, has failed to keep other 80 percent of speed vessels (14 out of 17) fit for sailing.
When contacted, as expected, one senior officer of DSS has put the blame on SCI for this problem. The senior officer, who does not want his name to be quoted, said that out of 14 boats, the DSS is expecting that MV Chouldari will be available for sailing in this week and MV Bambooka will be available by next week.
“Regarding rest vessels, only SCI can tell why the vessels are not operational. We are continuously requesting SCI to make other vessels available for service,” he said.
Sadly from SCI there is no one in Andaman to talk to media, on several occasions in past Andaman Sheekha Correspondent had tried to contact SCI at Port Blair but got no reply.
People of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, who largely depend on shipping services for their movement from one Island to other, do not understand technical issues, and do not care who is the Technical Manning and Officer Manning agency. General public expect sufficient number of vessels available for sailing so that they can lead a normal life.
There is an urgent need to review and take stock of the shipping fleet, especially on optimization of the present fleet, improvement of operational efficiencies, improvement of ship availability, improvement of services & passenger comfort and reduction in cost of shipping services.
General Public have high hopes on the present Lt. Governor and Chief Secretary, who are known for taking tough action on officers, who are failing in their duties and causing suffering for public. Hope some relief will come soon for public.
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