Port Blair, Jan 16: Tourism, Fisheries and Forests are the three greatly potential sectors in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, if, tapped properly, the Islands will be able to contribute in a major way to the Central Government, said the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge), Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Prakash Javadekar, while addressing a good gathering of the members of the Andaman Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ACCI), Port Blair Municipal Council and the Panchayati Raj Institution in the conference hall of the TSG Emerald View here yesterday evening. The interactive programme was organised by ACCI, which was also attended by the Member of Parliament, Shri Bishnu Pada Ray, BJP State President, Shri Vishal Jolly, PBMC Chairperson, Smt. Sheela Singh, Smt. Rupa Ray, senior officers of the Administration and others.
At the outset, the Minister expressed happiness to be in the Islands, which, he said is abundantly gifted with natural resources and has a great potential for development. He invited suggestions of people for including the same in the forthcoming General Budget of the country. “The Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has asked all Ministers to go to 140 Lok Sabha Constituencies to obtain feedback of the people for the General Budget. This is the first time that such a process has been initiated in the country”, said the Minister.
Replying to the suggestions made by a number of participants, the Minister stated that the Ministry of Environment & Forests is in the process of taking decisions about Eco-Sensitive Zones in the country and the decisions will do away with the hurdles in the development of the A&N Islands as well.
Regarding tourism, the Minister stated that today people want clean tourism and urged everyone to keep the Islands clean, “Swachch Bharat; Swachch Andamans”, he said. He said that to attain this objective, local resources should be utilized while the Central Government will also help in this process.
Speaking about the CRZ issue, the Minister informed the gathering that the Ministry will come out with a new CRZ policy for promotion of sustainable tourism in the Islands.
While answering request about jetties, the Minister said that proposals for infrastructure of connectivity are being given immediate clearance. Similarly, the defense project of A&N Islands, which were pending for a long time, were given immediate clearance. He also stated that online submission of projects for development by the A&N Administration is not mandatory and they can be submitted manually keeping in view the connectivity issues of the Isles. Regarding sand mining issue, the Minister suggested that revised proposals in this regard should be submitted to the Ministry for consideration.
The ACCI submitted a presentation/memorandum on various issues pertaining to the development of the A&N Islands. These include simplification of the CRZ clearance process for the A&N Islands to boost local and external investment in the Islands, changes to specific provisions of ICRZ/IIMP. The ACCI, through this presentation has requested the Minister to notify the proposal of ‘zero meter’ eco-sensitive zone for the 9 national parks and 96 wildlife sanctuaries, which has already been accepted by MoEF. The ACCI also requested that substantially developed rural areas be shifted from CRZ-III to CRZ-II. The memorandum also highlighted the issue of sand mining, deemed forests, request for revisiting the report of Prof. Sekhar Singh Commission, availability of timber, opening of more Islands for day tourism and biomass for renewable energy.
The ACCI President, Shri Girish Arora presented a memento to the Minister on the occasion. While proposing the vote of thanks, he expressed hope that the issues highlighted will be looked into by the Ministry of Environment and Forests.
Earlier, the Member ACCI, Shri Mohammed Jadwet welcomed the gathering and presented a brief view of the Islands’ economy.
