Rahul Singh & John Wilbert
Campbell Bay, April 26: Residents of Great Nicobar Islands have been fuming since the last few days due to the crisis of fuel at Great Nicobar and also the due to crisis of LPG Cylinders. Now adding to the plight the Islanders are now feeling the pinch of shortage of essential commodities. According to residents, lack of cargo and passenger-cum-cargo ships is the main reason behind such a disquieting situation in the last landmass of India. Residents alleged that there were cases when passenger-ships had been scheduled for Great Nicobar but no cargo was brought to the Great Nicobar, which is one of the major reasons behind the present situation.
Meanwhile, the Pradhan of Gram Panchayat, Campbell Bay has written a letter to the Deputy Commissioner of South Andaman and highlighted the problems, which are being faced by residents of Great Nicobar.
In his letter the Pradhan mentioned that the groceries, ration items and other household materials for daily use are getting exhausted from the local market. He alleged that the Kalighat Ship which had sailed from Port Blair on 23rd April has not loaded cargo which may worsen the situation at Campbell Bay region.
“Being the independent far- flung Island, the public is totally depended on the local market. Due to scarcity of ration items like wheat, rice which are staple food, the people will start starving in the upcoming day,” the Pradhan added.
He demanded an alternate ship for the cargo movement from Port Blair to Great Nicobar.
The Pradhan also pointed out that post Covid lockdown the frequency of passenger ships has been drastically decreased which has affected the local public for travel from Campbell Bay to Port Blair for their personal needs during emergency & cannot plan to proceed to mainland as the ship schedule has been delayed.
He requested the DC, SA to provide a passenger ship on a weekly basis and a passenger ship en-route to Chennai from Port Blair via Campbell Bay and vice versa.
He also pointed out that the demand for LPG Cylinders is increasing day by day.
“The LPG Cylinder was last issued on February 20th 2022, thereafter no LPG cylinder was issued. This has resulted in starvation among the villagers,” the added.
The Pradhan demanded necessary directions for the immediate distribution of LPG Cylinders.
He also pointed out that Campbell Bay region is witnessing crises of petrol and diesel since the past few months.
“By the limited quantity supply of petrol and diesel transported from Port Blair to Campbell Bay region, the demands keep on rising, which has affected the daily routine of the individuals. The villagers are unable to travel from one place to another during an emergency. The parents are unable to drop their children to school facing shortage of petrol/diesel in their vehicles. The officials of various departments are unable to reach their respective offices due to shortage of petrol and resulting in delay in developmental works. The Electricity Department is also been affected by the shortage of diesel as they have circulated the notice for the general public informing about 4 hrs load shedding in the villages. The situation may worsen further if the demand for diesel keeps on increasing. As per the sources, there is limited quantity of diesel available in electricity department for a couple of weeks,” he pointed out
Andaman Sheekha tried to contact the Assistant Commissioner of Campbell Bay and Deputy Commissioner of Car Nicobar but both were too busy to reply to media questions on these major issues.
Later when contacted, Mr. Deepak Pundir, DANICS Director Civil Supply told Andaman Sheekha Daily that the Administration is putting efforts to supply all necessary items but due to unavailability of Cargo Ship things are delaying. “We are in touch with the Assistant Commissioner of Nicobar in this matter. Now we have information that Shakti-2 Cargo Ship is presently in Hut Bay, which will probably return tomorrow to Port Blair. If everything goes well we will send sufficient quantities of Petrol, Diesel and LPG cylinders and other essential items to Campbell Bay,” he added.
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