E Arun
Port Blair, May 30: Nearly nine years after 2004’s devastating tsunami, even today some of its victims are going through hell almost everyday. A group of tsunami victims of 2004’s Boxing Day Tsunami were provided shelter at Nayasahar Tsunami camp area but due to lack of coordination between different departments and Panchayat, the tsunami victims are living under total darkness at night.
“In our area you can see street lights but none of these street light works. The entire area goes into total darkness at night. We have to walk all the way to reach to our shelter amidst poisonous snakes and centipedes. During rainy days things become too difficult,” said a lady living in Nayasahar Tsunami Shelter.
Residents allege that even after repeated complaints neither APWD nor Panchayat showed any interest in repairing these street lights.
“It is becoming too much risky for our kids to go out after evening. Is there any one to listen to our grievances?” questioned an old resident of the area.
When Andaman Sheekha investigated into the matter it was found that most of the cables for the street lights in the Nayasahar Tsunami shelter area were laid underground making it difficult for untrained workers of Panchayat to find the fault. Moreover, the Panchayat always has its readymade excuse i.e fund constrain.
“Our Panchayat is huge, it consists of 14 wards and we have to manage the show with limited funds. As per the notification issued on Jan 2012, we get only 30 % money from general fund, from that we have to do maintenance in all 14 wards, which is impossible.” Mr. Shyam Shanker Das, Pradhan, Guptapahara area told Andaman Sheekha.
According to the Pradhan the Street Lights provided by APWD are costly, which is another reason behind this problem. “We don’t get sufficient fund for the street lights. Moreover, the street lights at tsunami shelter provided by APWD are very costly. The cable for street lights at tsunami shelter were laid underground, which is a major drawback. If any short circuit happens it becomes too difficult to find the fault. Regarding this problem we have already intimated the Chief Secretary.”
The Panchayat is now demanding that the cables must be laid overhead once again, so that maintenance becomes easy but till that time perhaps people living in these tsunami shelters will have to live in total darkness at night hours. Sadly in this official file movement no senior officer has time to pay a personal visit to the Nayasahar Tsunami Shelter area to see the ground realities.
