Staff Correspondent
Port Blair, Jan 06: The Doordarshan Kendra Port Blair today organised a special programme ‘Khas Mulaqut’ with Lt. Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
In this first of its kind show produced by Doordarshan Kendra Port Blair, the Lt. Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lt. Gen (Retd.) A K Singh interacted with people from various sections of local society and shared his vision for Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
During the programme he took questions from public and presented his point of views and the Administration’s stand on those issues. Dr. Francis Xavier, Principal, JNRM, anchored the show.
Answering to a question on centre of gravity of Andamans, the Lt. Governor said that whenever someone gets a task it is important to find out the centre of gravity of the task before going for it.
He said that with time he has realized that instead of having one centre of gravity it was necessary to redefine the centre of gravity of these Islands and slowly he realized that these Islands have multiple centre of gravities.
“As per me there are four centre of gravities in these Islands. The first centre of gravity of these Islands is the strategic nature of Island and the security requirements, second is the people of these Islands, third is the original tribals of these Islands and fourth is the ecology,” the Lt. Governor said.
He said that there should be a harmony between all these centre of gravities for the development of these Islands. “Under some circumstances, importance of one or other centre of gravity may increase,” he added.
Regarding illegal immigrants the Lt. Governor said that Illegal immigration is one of the threat factors. He said that this matter was raised prominently in LG advisory council meeting also in past. “There is a perception in these Islands that there are large number of illegal immigrants,” he said. He said policy of government is to take action as per law whenever an illegal immigrant is found.
On illegal immigrant issue of North Andaman, he said some people had raised voice that common public are being harassed in name of illegal immigrants but he made it clear that administration has no intension to harass any public.
He said that to counter illegal immigration we have good surveillance around these Islands by Coast Guard and the immigration unit has been asked to keep a watch in sea as well as airports.
Regarding Telecom he said that getting bandwidths are interim measures and the proper solution will be undersea cable from Chennai, for which he said DPR has been made and FSC has to be done. He said that entire process of laying submarine cable has now been divided into two parts first is installation and second is operation and maintenance. “For laying cable government will pay and for the second part the government of India will give us fund,” he said.
He said that within next 2 to 2.5 years the submarine cable will be laid. “I think we are looking at win win situation in Andaman. Once submarine cable reaches these Islands, Andaman will be ready to take off,” the Lt. Governor said.
He urged colleges to start some foreign language classes for Andaman Students so that for BPO and Call Centers of future they are ready.
Regarding tourism he there are many fields, we need to move forward. “For promotion of tourism we will encourage every level of tourism. High level tourism is preferable but if there is only high level tourism our people will not get much job but if we promote middle level tourism there will be many jobs. We need to develop infrastructure and we need to focus away from Neil, Havelock and Port Blair,” he said.
Appreciating the beauty of Lalaji Bay and Mark Bay he said that within 10 days he will get project report about mission Long Island, so that Long Islands can be promoted for tourism. “We need to create infrastructure we need to connect Havelock with Long Island,” he said.
He praised the issue raised by Mr. Naresh Chander Lal, a renowned film maker, and asked the Art and Culture Secretary, INTAC and Heritage committee to work towards documentation of local artists and their contributions in the field of art and culture.
In Education sector he said that After ANCOL, Medical College, Community College, his next vision is to bring in professional colleges and the Education Department has recommended following stream which are Management, IT, Microbiology and Law. “We got in principal approval for this,” he said.
In aviation sector he expressed deep concerns about high airfare and said that Administration is taking all possible steps to curb high airfare. He asked the civil aviation secretary to ensure that the Chartered Flight for Kolkata starts soon.
Regarding minor violation of building bye laws, he asked the UD Secretary to prepare a draft and give it to the Chairperson of PBMC and go ahead for one time relaxation (Compoundable).
Expresses serious concerns about corruption he said that I have given full hand to Anti-Corruption Department. He said that there are many more trap cases which have been planned and “when the cases will come up you will be shocked.” He said that Society has to rebel against corruption. He urged people not to give bribe to any one and report about corruption to authorities so that corrupt officials could be taken to task.
