Port Blair, July 07: The Lt. Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lt. Gen (Retd.) A K Singh will be completing one year in office tomorrow. Tuesday, 8 July 2014 marks one year since Lt. Gen (Retd.) A K Singh, was sworn in as Lt. Governor of A & N Islands.
Things are moving unbelievably fast now. Let it be issues of getting additional bandwidth from ISRO, establishment of Medical College, setting up second degree college of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, starting aircraft service for Nicobar District, every project is moving fast.
Sincere efforts could be seen from the side of Lt. Governor to complete old and stranded projects for the development of these Islands.
Besides this, the efforts shown by the present Lt. Governor to meet with public and interact with common man to read the pulse of these Islands, has been lauded by every section of Andaman Society.
In last one year, these far flung Islands have seen sea changes in almost all the sectors.
Addressing a press conference at Megapode nest to mark this one year, the Lt. Governor today said “Till I am here, I will continue to work for the well being of islands and welfare of people of these Islands. It is a commitment and I have no other reason being here. I am also conscious that I can’t do it alone. I can take a lead but I can’t achieve success unless I am supported, advised, criticized by the citizens, eminent people, by media and the full support of Administration.
If you ask me, how do I look at my last one years of tenure it is not on me to say whether I succeeded not succeeded but one thing you have to grant me that I tried my best and I shall continue to do that. I am very open and transparent and any of you are welcome to come to me and talk to me and give his point of view.”
Answering to questions raised by media persons during the Press conference regarding sports facilities the Lt. Governor said that he is not very satisfied the way Administration is running sports in these Islands.
“It is not about winning or losing. Facilities, opportunities must be made available for the children and there should be a fair and transparent way to select players,” he said.
He said that he is hopeful that in coming 30 days Administration will revamp the sports sector and some of the defunct organizations will be revitalized.
Regarding allegations against Andaman and Nicobar State Olympic Association for selling certificates of participation of National Level tournament and fielding ghost players the Lt. Governor directed the Secretary sports to examine the things and wherever there is fraud going on the LG directed the Secretary Sports to file an FIR.
Out of total budget, only 25 percent fund is left for development while 75 is committed liability. Therefore he directed the Administration to reduce 10 percent of expenditure in various sectors.
Regarding Desalination plant the LG said that Andaman should atleast have a pilot project of desalination plant and directed a team of APWD and PBMC to visit Chennai, where a breakthrough has been achieve in setting up desalination plant technology is concerned lowering the cost.
He said that he will be laying the foundation stone in Khudi Ram Pur Dam of Diglipur.
During the meeting on water crisis, wastage and storage issue the Lt. Governor directed the Chief Secretary to upgrade the water issue to priority one. He asked Administration to improve the storage network, distribution network and work out a very concrete plan. He said that now focus will be to reduce the wastage of water.
Regarding fresh encroachment, the Lt. Governor said that if there is a fresh encroachment in these Islands then the officers responsible will be taken to task.
“Fresh encroachment is just not acceptable. For fresh encroachment remove it immediately but in cases where people have been sitting for decades, one should approach sensibly,” the Lt. Governor directed.
He asked the power Secretary to complete the Audit work of transmission and distribution lines of Electricity Department within the stipulated time and submit him the report.
During the meeting on the matter of sick ships the Director of Shipping assured the Lt. Governor to put two vehicle ferry ships MV Afra Bay and MV Karmatang to some limited capacity use within next hundred days he also said that process of scarping of ships is also on.
He said that Administration will take up the issue of opening of Sainik School too in Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Earlier, the Chief Secretary welcomed the media persons and said that after detailed interaction and consultation with members from the public, elected representatives as well as representatives of various political parties, Lt. Governor has outlined a vision for the development of these islands.
“From time to time, he has been reviewing development in various critical sectors and guiding us. Today on his completion of one year in office, we decided to take stock of our achievements as well as areas where we have to more ground to cover. We have also identified key focus areas for the forthcoming year as well as targets for the next 100 days,” he said.
Smti. Puniya Salila Srivastava, Commissioner –cum – Secretary, APWD made a detailed presentation about major initiatives and achievements of Andaman and Nicobar Administration in last one year.
She mentioned that the vision of Administration was promotion of sustainable and inclusive growth while being sensitive to our fragile ecosystem and concerns of our indigenous tribes; enhanced employment opportunities for youths; improve connectivity with mainland and between Islands and to ensure strategic security.
