Port Blair, Dec 26: The Non-Gazetted Govt. Officers’ Association has demanded separate quota of tickets in the charter flights for government employees working in these islands. In a letter sent to the Chief Secretary, Andaman and Nicobar Administration, Shri D. Ayyappan, General Secretary of the Association, referring to the news item published in the daily newspapers of these islands today about the detailed arrangements made by the Administration for issuing tickets in the chartered flights, said that all the tickets in the chartered flights will be issued from the Ship Ticket Advance Reservation (STAR) counters of Shipping Department at Phoenix Bay.
He said that government employees and their family members constitute a good percentage of population in these islands and they are required to proceed to mainland for various purposes. No quota of tickets for government employees has been earmarked in the proposed chartered flights. The Association told the Chief Secretary that government employees are required to line up before the Ship Ticket counters (STAR counters) along with general public. Many of the government employees who wish to proceed to mainland may not be willing to become part of the long queue of people in the Ship ticket counters fearing the usual unpleasant situation occurring there, he said.
The Association further informed the Chief Secretary that under the proposed system, government employees serving in outstations will not get any ticket in the chartered flights. In view of the above situation, the Association requested the Chief Secretary to earmark 50% of the tickets in each chartered flight exclusively for government employees working in Andaman and Nicobar Islands and make arrangements to issue the same from a separate counter in the Secretariat building in order to avoid the inconvenience of government employees for getting tickets in the chartered flights.
