E Arun and Tarun Kartick
Port Blair, Feb 11: MV Sentinel one of the oldest Ships sailing in the Andaman Sea, has now become a constant source of discomfort for passengers.
According to sources, the ship was sent to Dry Dock at Vishakapatnam for repair works on 9th of January 2012 and the ship came back to the Islands on 9th of January 2013 but even after docking the ship at Vishakapatnam for a year the ship still has pit holes that developed due to corrosion. This shows that how professionally the repair works were carried out on the ship at Vishakapatnam and how vigilantly the repair works were supervised by responsible authorities in A & N Administration.
Sources also informed that Cockroaches and Rats are now roaming freely all over the ship. Cockroaches and rats can be seen in the catering rooms, canteens, cabins, bunks, decks and even in the toilets.
MV. Sentinel which voyages between Port Blair and Southern Groups of Islands with both Passengers and Cargo, is one of the most important ships for the people of the southern group of Islands, but such unhygienic condition is leaving passengers totally upset.
Andaman Sheekha has exclusive photographs of a few such pit holes, which were there on the ship, when the ship returned back to Port Blair this January but perhaps as authorities have smelled that Andaman Sheekha is planning a story on M V Sentinel the Pit holes were repaired just two days back. But the million dollar question is when the ship had gone for carrying out repair works in the Dry Dock of Vishakapatnam for a year then why these pit holes were not detected there and repaired?
Even after repeated attempt neither the Director of Shipping Services nor the Assistant Director of Shipping Services could be contacted for a comment on this issue. “I am going inside engine room. This phone will get disconnected soon,” was the reply of Assistant Director of DSS, when he was called by Andaman Sheekha correspondent after three failed attempt of meeting him.
