Staff Correspondent
Neil Island, Feb 10: The Neil Island jetty is one of the most beautiful Jetties of A & N Islands, because of its length, design and also the colour of water around it. But the Jetty has now become old and weak. Due to lack of maintenance and proper care the Jetty is slowly becoming a threat to public life.
Residents of Neil Island allege that the Jetty has become so weak that it shakes terribly bad, everyday while berthing of vessels. The Jetty is unable to absorb even the energy of impact between the vessels and the Jetty, hence during berthing, passengers waiting on the Jetty experience heavy jolts.
“The jolts are equal to 5.0 to 6.0 intensity of earthquake. Hence one can easily understand how weak the Jetty has become. If in future the Jetty collapses during berthing of vessels atleast dozens of people will surely die on the spot,” said a villager of Neil Island.
Not only this, the long and narrow jetty does not have proper railing and hence chance of accidents are always more. Half of the Jetty has elevated concrete blocks to prevent vehicles from slipping down into sea but many of such blocks are also completely broken and has gone missing, which again increases the risk of accidents.
