John Wilbert & Savita Kumari
Port Blair, Dec 06: Fishermen of Swaraj Dweep have been facing huge difficulties in storing their catch as the lone Ice plant, run by ANIIDCO, remains out of order since past several months.
Without ice the fishermen of Swaraj Dweep are finding themselves totally helpless as they can neither carry ice blocks in their dinghy to keep their catch fresh nor they can store their catch fresh for selling the same in market.
“We are forced to dispose of our catch within 24 hours as there are no ice blocks available in Swaraj Dweep,” alleged a fisherman.
Talking to Andaman Sheekha over phone Mr. Ajit Kumar Roy, former PRI member of the Island alleged since last nearly one and a half year, the Ice Plant is not working for which the fishermen are suffering huge losses. “This is a serious issue but no one is really bothered about us,” he added.
When contacted a senior officer of ANIIDCO, who does not want his name to be quoted said that one year ago in the month of December 2020 the ice plant of Swaraj Dweep Islands developed some technical issues, which was rectified later, but now again since 18 September 2021 the ice plant is not functioning due to some technical snag. He assured that within 10 days some technicians will be sent to Swaraj Dweep by ANIIDCO and the Ice Plant will be made functional once again.
