Staff Correspondent
Port Blair, July 18: In an unfortunate incident caused due to the negligence of higher officials of All India Radio, a ceiling fan along with false ceiling and wooden beam came tumbling down in a staff quarter when the inmates were fast as sleep.
The residents had a miraculous escape as the fan fell on empty space inside the room. The incident was impending for a long time as this quarter is in a dilapidated state. The situation is no different in other residential quarters as well. All the staffs in AIR colony are afraid to stay in their respective quarters as the condition of almost all quarters are the same. Some quarters are standing on support of arecanut beam. Roofs are leaking from all sides and wall may collapse at any time. Shift duty staffs are compelled to stay in these highly risky quarters as the quarters are near to the office.
Irony is that AIR and DDK has a Civil construction wing of its own with two Assistant Engineers sitting idle for years. The Head of AIR is reluctant to allot the newly renovated Type -IV quarters to programme or administrative staff for reason best known to him. However those who land up in Port Blair from mainland are given quarters of their choice within hours of their landing in Port Blair. This is a classic case of local staff being neglected.
Even ST candidates are not given their share of quota while allotment. Even the earmarked quarter of Station Director and Station Engineer is lying vacant due to lack of maintenance. If the present situation continues, someone will have to pay with their life to prove that residential quarters of AIR are not worth staying.
