Sheekha Bureau
Port Blair, Jan 06: After MV Nicobar now MV Harshavardhana has developed technical snags today just before it’s sailing for Chennai.
According to details the ship was scheduled to sail for Chennai at 9.00 am, which was later rescheduled to 4.00 pm, for which embarkation process was almost completed by 2.00 pm but to the utter dismay of nearly 130 pilgrims for Sabrimala, Kerala, the sailing was again delayed for technical snags.
This sailing was preferred by all pilgrims because this ship was scheduled to sail for Chennai today and it was expected that it would reach Chennai on 8th January. From Chennai all pilgrims are scheduled to visit atleast three major temples before reaching Sabrimala, where they are scheduled to witness ‘Holy Jyothi Darshan’ on 14th January early morning.
Now all pilgrims fear that if the ship is further delayed they will probably miss the ‘Holy Jyothi Darshan’.
“The point is when there was a technical fault why passengers were allowed to embark. Why such confusion just before sailing everytime?” questions a passenger.
According to last update at 9.00 pm it was finally announced that the ship will now sail at 7.00 am in the morning.
When contacted the Director of Shipping Services, he said that the delay was due to some faults in AC units. “There was a problem in the compressor of the AC units and it has been repaired. However the temperature of the Ship has to come to its level and as soon as it comes to the level the surveyor will allow the ship to sail. It will take atleast two hours more,” said Capt (IN) Rajinder Kumar, Director, DSS.
Meanwhile not only passengers but also CISF Jawans have expressed their anguish over the whole mismanagement. “We have to do normal eight hour duty and eight hour sailing duty and because of delays the duty hours further extends to 24 hours sometime. We are frustrated,” said a CISF Jawan on the condition of anonymity.
