John Wilbert & Rabindranath Biswas
Port Blair, Nov 09: Large number of farmers of Great Nicobar Islands have staged a protest in the morning hours to press for their genuine demands of procurement of Copra at Minimum Support Price today.
Today, farmers of Great Nicobar called a “Campbell Bay Chakka Jam” atJoginder Nagar, which was supported by the general public.
The farmers expressed their anger against the Administration. They demanded that the Govt. should fix Coconut Prices under MSP. Though the market rate of Coconut or Copra has not come down but Riflex Industries is duping the hardworking Coconut growers in Great Nicobar as they fix price as per their choice. Though the issue has been raised numerous times but no Concrete solution has been found, they farmers said.
They also demanded for improvement of Medical Facilities. They alleged that food is not being properly provided to the in-patients admitted at Primary Health Centre Campbell Bay. “It is very disappointing that, in the name of food only tea is being provided to patients” further alleged the irate mob. Moreover the R.O purifier is defunct for the last so many years and medical authorities are not bothered to repair the defunct ROand which is causing difficulties to patients as well as visitors visiting PrimaryHealth Centres, they . It is also to note that no surgeon is visiting CampbellBay; in earlier days surgeons used to visit Campbell Bay for general surgeries like Family Planning operations, which has stopped now. Other general surgery can also be performed with the assistance of surgeon team, in this regard, local Administration may kindly take up this matter with Directorate Health Services, as well as Secretary health for deputing the Surgeon for duty cum tour to Campbell Bay every twice in a month, they demanded.
They also raised the issue of unavailability of Teachers – Teachers who serve in Great Nicobar get transferred after completion of their term but their replacement postings are not provided. SSCT appointments are also not done on time. They demanded sufficient numbers of teachers in all the schools.
Pathetic condition of Roads was also an issue which they raised in the protest. “We islanders will like to beg you to open your eyes and see the condition of roads. The Transport Dept is being targeted for not providing good buses, but deep down we know the truth. The condition of roads in Great Nicobar is pathetic” they said.
They also demanded for immediate replacement of damaged High Tension Electricity Cables of out area (Joginder Nagar, Shastri Nagar, Laxmi Nagar, Gandhi Nagar) as theelectricity connectivity to these areas are being disrupted frequently due to damaged high tension cables.
As per details, the protest that started at around 08:00 AM and continued till 11:30 AM, was peaceful.
At around 11:00 AM the Assistant Commissioner Campbell Bay and all HODs of Electricity, APWD, Education reached the spot where the Assistant Commissioner Mr. Nitin Sakiya (DANIC) reportedly assured the farmers that their demands will be fulfilled after a certain period and requested a delegation to visit AC Office to talk for fixing of Copra rate after a comprehensive discussion and then theprotesters dispersed peacefully, the report said.
