Massive gathering at funeral of Chief Imam of Phoenix Bay Graveyard Mosque; Demands raised to ensuring safety of Public

Roney Antony
Port Blair, Dec 12: Large number of people today gathered at the funeral of Chief Imam of Phoenix Bay Graveyard Mosque, Maulana Abdul Rashid, who was killed yesterday in a tragic road accident.

After the funeral people who participated in the funeral organized a rally demanding safety of people on road and also against rash driving. The rally started at around 2.00 PM from Phoenix Bay and reached Transport office, via Gandhi Statue and Private Bus Stand.

Mrs. Protima Banerjee Vice Chairperson of PBMC, Mr. Sanjay Meshack Aam Aadmi Party, Convenor and Councillor, Mr. Abdul Siddique, Chairperson of Mopla Association and Ramzan Ali Ward Councillor, Mr Azizur Rehman of Telugu Desam Party and other prominent citizens were present in the rally.

Later a letter was submitted to Transport Office and Secretariat by Mrs. Protima Banerjee Vice Chairperson of PBMC in which she mentioned that the CCTV footage of the accident is an eye opener describing the fate of the local public in general who all are victim of the rash driving by private buses in some way or the other.

“This is not the first instance when this type of accident has happened in Port Blair. The buses operating in Port Blair area are competing amongst themselves for business without a care in the world for anyone’s life. A lot of accidents have happened in the past however all these matters are put to rest by the so called Bus Union whose only motive is to make money at all costs. The Administration should take note and immediately come with a plan of action to curb this nuisance. The carrying capacity and speed limit has to be checked and all buses not following the guidelines should be seized and their licenses cancelled,” she said.
In her letter she added that one of his daughters of the victim is to get marry on 8th Jan 2019 and the other daughter just arrived after completing her B. E (Electronic and communications).
“The A&N Administration must come forward for a relief to this family by providing an employment in the government establishment to the daughter of the deceased so as to earn their bread honourably. I therefore, earnestly request your honour kindly to appoint Miss Ruhana Rashid, an engineering graduate in any department of Andaman Administration immediately on companionate ground vis-a-vis a magisterial enquiry may also kindly be ordered to probe into the nature of the accident claiming life of Imam Abdul Rashid so as to avoid re- occurrence of such accidents,” Mrs. Banerjee added.
Earlier in the morning, Mr Azizur Rehman of Telugu Desam Party, Mr. Ajay Rai DSP Traffic, Deputy Director State Transport, Mr. Binoy had a meeting with Deputy Commissioner of South Andaman in his chamber in this regard, where the Deputy Commissioner reportedly assured stringent action in this case.