Vikramaditya & John Wilbert
Port Blair, Apr 20: The recent move of Tribal Welfare Department to change the timing of the first convoy from the Middle Strait to as early as 6.30 AM has brought a bag full of problems for the people of North and Middle Andaman and also ATR Commuters.
According to public the new timing is too early for a remote and scattered place like North and Middle Andaman. Because of such order, now one has to start ATR journey from Rangat at 3.00 AM in the morning and from Diglipur at 11.00 PM of the previous night to reach to Middle Strait on time for the First Convoy.
“This is not only inconvenient but also inhumane to treat Islanders like this. How can someone drive on such a bad road in the wee hours. This will certainly cause an accident in the coming days. The timing should be 9.30 AM or 10.00 AM for the first Convoy from Middle Strait,” said a resident of Rangat.
In case of rain, the ATR becomes too slippery and many vehicles fail to reach at Middle Strait on time and then they have to wait for eight long hours for the next convoy. “Think about the inconvenience caused to ATR passengers who start journey from Diglipur on previous day night and then after missing first Convoy at Middle Strait they have to wait for another eight hours with family and kids,” said a resident of Diglipur, who does not want his name to be quoted.
When Andaman Sheekha contacted Mr. S K Jha, the Secretary of Tribal Welfare regarding this issue he said that the department has received complaints about it and the department is planning to change the timing.
He said that for this purpose the Tribal Welfare Department will talk to other departments also before taking a decision. “Because of COVID-19 we have to discuss issues with other departments,” the Secretary told Andaman Sheekha daily last Thursday.
