DJ Venkatesh
Diglipur, Feb 04: As part of the Diglipur visit the Lt Governor, Lt Gen A K Singh (Retd) reached Ross and Smith Island on the early morning of 2nd Feb, 2015 along with Chief Secretary Mr. Anand Prakash and Chief Engineer Mr. P K Singh.
It seems that the beauty of the beach mesmerized the Lt. Governor. He along with others reached by Police boat M.V.Bhaktawar instead of reaching the Eco-huts he sat on the beach chairs to admire the beauty of the beach.
He inspected all the amenities available there on the beach including the kiosks, toilets and other infrastructure and seemed satisfied. He also interacted with the life guards deployed by the IP & T.
The DFO Shri Ajay Kumar, IFS said that the forest department and DC N & M Andaman planning to conduct a terrain survey from Smith island Jetty to Sagar Dweep village for developing a nature trail of two metre kacha road and introduce Cycle rickshaws as eco friendly transport system after getting environmental clearance , which will provide employment opportunities for the Sagar Dweep unemployed youths.
The LG appreciated the idea and directed the Deputy commissioned to look into the matter and asked to form a committee with administration, forest and boat owners to tackle this problem. Meanwhile the LG spoke to PCCF from Ross & Smith and directed Forest department to provide big boat services by them too which can facilitate more tourists. On getting the advice from the LG the forest department came into action and it is in the process to provide four big boats with 25 passenger capacity. There are also plans to get more boats.
“An overdue visit to Ross & Smith- the natural beauty of this has to experienced, cannot be visualized though pictures-Nature at its most pristine. Compliments are due to the Forest Department team led by their dynamic DFO Ajay Kumar, for nurturing this place” the LG wrote in visitors’ book at Ross & Smith Islands
