Port Blair, Dec 26: The Andaman and Nicobar Pradesh Congress Committee has urged the Director General of A & N Police to change the convoy timings of Andaman Trunk Road (ATR), the controversial highway which runs through the Jarawa Tribal Reserve Forest.
Presently, movement of vehicles, on Andaman Trunk Road, is regulated by four convoys, after which no vehicles are allowed to cross the Jarawa Tribal Reserve Forest. Andaman Trunk Road Connects, Port Blair city with North and Middle Andaman and is called the life line of these remote Islands.
In a press note the President of Andaman and Nicobar Pradesh Congress Committee, Mr. Kuldeep Rai Sharma today said that people of North and Middle Andaman and all visiting tourists to North and Middle Andaman are facing problems because of the last convoy timing (3.00 pm) from Middle Strait area of Middle Andaman to Port Blair.
“Often due to sudden breakdown of vehicles or various other reasons, tourists and public miss the last convoy, which leaves them in high sea at Middle Strait area of Middle Andaman. If the timing of the last convoy is changed to 3.30 pm from 3.00 pm then things will become a little easy for people, using the last convoy,” Mr. Sharma added.
He said that last convoy timing of 3.00 pm is not suitable for those tourists, who want to return back to Port Blair on the same day after seeing the world famous Mud Volcano, Parrot Island and Lime Stone Caves or Baratang Island.
“It has been found that often tourists miss the last convoy by one or two minutes and as the Baratang and Middle Strait Islands do not have proper lodging and boarding facilities, they feel totally stranded for a complete night. Worst sufferers are women, children, patients and elderly persons,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Sharma has also written a letter to the Director General of Police with this demand.
“If the last convoy timing is changed to 3.30 pm then, this will make things easy for people living in North and Middle Andaman and Tourists,” Mr. Sharma said in his letter.
