Mohammed Sajid and Sourab Ch. Das
Port Blair, Oct 17: The IRBn camp situated at Port Mout, South Andaman is reeling under total darkness after dusk since last several months.
Call it negligence, ego clash between two departments or total lack of coordination between different agencies, this matter shows nothing but total insensitivity of authorities towards people, who are living inside the IRBn campus, Port Mout.
According to reports out of nearly 950 IRBn Jawans nearly 250 IRBn Jawans are living in Barracks inside the Port Mout Campus and these Jawans are at present reeling under pitch darkness after sunset.
Reports suggest that in the initial stage Arial Bunch Cable (ABC) line was taking care of power supply inside the IRBn Campus but after an incident of fire, in the cable due to technical problems, power supply was totally stopped inside the campus.
Soon in the quarter area, power supply was restored via some direct line but no such arrangements were made for Barrack and office area. Situation is so bad that even the street lights around the quarters do not get power supply and hence going one place to other inside the campus is more like a Jungle Safari.
After the fire incident, the unit is somehow managing the show on their own by running a Diesel Generator (DG) Set for fulfilling some power requirements in day time and in some case after dusk but more or less darkness prevails inside the IRBn Campus.
Time to time there is risk of accident due to the shortage in power supply. Andaman and Nicobar Islands are prone to natural calamities like Cyclones, Earthquakes etc and in case of any such disaster, things would be certainly more difficult for these people, who are already troubled by total power cut.
The crux here is not only to deal with the major accidents and disasters but also keeping in mind about very small problems of the IRBn jawans living inside the campus, which can lead to a bigger issue in later stage.
When Andaman Sheekha contacted the SP of IRBn, he directed Andaman Sheekha to talk to Mr. Kamal, Inspector IRBn, regarding this issue. Mr. Kamal, Inspector IRBn informed Andaman Sheekha that since last one month there is no power supply in their camp and the reason behind it was the fire accident in ABC lines due to technical snag. He said that at present the IRBn unit is managing the show by running DG Set with the help of some jawans who have knowledge in this field. Inspector Kamal also said that the matter has been taken up with concerned authorities by the senior officers of IRBn but till now things have not changed.
Sources in Electricity Department claims that the ABC lines have not been handed over to Electricity Department yet so they can’t do anything while PGCL lack technical knowledge how to deal with this major repair.
This is a perfect example how some people suffer badly just because the decision makers are not performing their duties seriously. Hope something is done for these Jawans, who are always there for us, to ensure safety and normalcy.
