Tarun Kartick
Campbell Bay Jul 06: Indefinite Campbell Bay Bandh was called on 6th of July 2017 by all political parties, all associations, organizations and members of general public. The Band and Chakka Jam saw huge participation and almost 800-1000 people turned up on streets to agitate against the negligent behavior of the administration towards the residents of the southernmost territory of India.
The general public alleged that the administration has always practiced step motherly behavior towards Great Nicobar. According to public, the unemployment rates are quite high in Great Nicobar, the quality of education is very poor, regular ships are mere dreams for the residents of Great Nicobar and there are several other problems which people have regularly raised but no permanent solution has been given.
The general public of Great Nicobar submitted an 11 point list of problems to the Assistant Commissioner on which they are demanding permanent solutions to call off the bandh.
Meanwhile the Assistant Commissioner of Campbell Bay tried reaching a consensus point with the general public for the Bandh to be called off but the public refused to call off the bandh until permanent solutions for their problems are found.
The Assistant Commissioner also conveyed to the general public that he has been called to Port Blair by the Chief Secretary on 07th of July 2017 to find solutions for their problems but the general public was not assured that their problems will be solved in such manner. The general public further asked the Assistant Commissioner to request respective Secretaries and Chief Secretary to visit Campbell Bay tomorrow to meet the people and know their issues and to offer permanent solutions.
The Bandh started off very peacefully and ended with public fuming on administration for not listening to their genuine demands and not offering Immediate solutions. These problems which the public have raised are apparently not new and the residents of Great Nicobar have repeatedly asked the administration for a solution but the administration has never genuinely tried to look for a permanent solution and instead always try to take damage control measures when there is an outrage.
The residents of Great Nicobar are in no mood to call off the bandh unless permanent solution to their problems are given.
Campbell Bay has been a very peaceful place and the only reason for such a bandh is that the administration has not helped the residents by offering permanent solutions and their problem kept accumulating day after day and year after year.
Talking to Andaman Sheekha fuming residents of Great Nicobar said that they are not going to let the Assistant Commissioner leave the station and they want the Chief Secretary and respective secretaries to come and solve their problems permanently.
It is also a matter of fact that the visit of Chief Secretaries and other Secretaries to Great Nicobar is very rare and most of the time these officials only visit the Island before the visit of the Lt. Governor. The Lt. Governor on his maiden visit to Great Nicobar had assured the people to visit again in January and take review of all the orders had given but it has been almost six months but the people are still waiting for his visit.
The day two of the Campbell Bay Bandh is expected to see even larger participation from the public and it was also decided that twitter and other social networks would also be used by the public of Great Nicobar to convey their problems to the national leadership of the country during the band tomorrow. Moreover people are determined not to call off the band until their problems are solved.
