Ganeshan
Port Blair, Oct 25: Baratang region in Middle Andaman is witnessing chaos after two vehicle ferries MFV Philobhabi and Austin-3 developed technical snags on Sunday.
The vehicle ferries crawled at a slow speed to ferry passengers to either sides, Nilambur and Middle Strait, as commuters in hundreds remained stranded for hours to wait for their turn.
According to reports, it takes about 15-20 minutes to reach Middle Strait from Nilambur Jetty on the vehicle ferries. However, the vessels, with technical glitches, took about an hour to transport passengers.
Hundreds of people visited Diglipur in North Andaman to witness the Durga Puja celebration and during their return, serpentine queues of vehicles were witnessed at the Nilambur Jetty.
But due to the snag in the vehicle ferries, commuters had to struggle to reach Middle Strait in their return journey. Even persistent demands from the residents of Baratang to provide two large vehicle ferries in the Nilambur-Middle Strait sector has failed to attract the attention of the Shipping Department.
Speaking to Channel One News and Andaman Sheekha, the Zilla Parishad member of Baratang, Mr Alagar Swamy said that the Shipping Department has been requested a number of times to provide large vehicle ferries at Baratang to prevent huge queues at the jetties.
However, the Shipping Department has till date failed to address the issue, he said urging the intervention of the top brass of the administration for the benefit of commuters.
Leave a Reply