Port Blair, Aug 16: The Member of Parliament today wrote a letter to the Chief Secretary of Andaman and Nicobar Administration and requested an optional, ‘Walk-in Rapid Antigen Test Facility’ for ATR passengers.
In his letter mailed to the Chief Secretary of Andaman and Nicobar Administration today, the Member of Parliament pointed out that as there is almost normalcy in Andaman and Nicobar Islands and ATR has been opened for public movement, with necessary permission, large numbers of people are travelling through ATR, every day.
He added that due to the mandatory ‘on the site’ Rapid Antigen Test at Ferrargunj, many ATR passengers are facing huge inconvenience, especially children, ladies, and old age persons. Those who are travelling to Diglipur are also facing huge difficulties.
The Member of Parliament highlighted that for RAT, the ATR passengers are asked to report nearly two hours prior to Convoy Time, at Ferrargunj and for reaching Ferrargunj, one has to start nearly one hour before the testing time from point of Journey. Hence, the entire process extends the ATR journey time to more than 3 hours.
He further pointed out that presently due to pathetic road conditions, reaching Diglipur takes nearly 12 to 13 hours, depending upon the weather conditions and due to “on the site RAT” at Ferrarrgunj, the total journey hours becomes 15 to 16 hours, which is painful for children, ladies and elderly people.
Hence, for the convenience of people, the Member of Parliament requested to start ‘walk-in Rapid Antigen Test facility’ at Port Blair for ATR passengers, on an optional basis. If such facility is provided then most of the ATR passengers can undergo RAT one day before the journey and save their journey time by 3 hours on the day of ATR journey. The optional ‘Walk-in RAT’ may be carried out at afternoon hours at Port Blair and the validity of the test can be fixed to 18 hours, he suggested.
The MP mentioned that this will not only reduce the crowd at Ferrargunj RAT site but also reduce huge pressure from the shoulders of Health, Police and Revenue Staffs, for testing a large number of passengers at Ferrargunj Check post on daily basis.
