Have we learnt anything from our past mistakes??
Bureau Report
Port Blair, Jan 31: Is Administration gearing up for another embarrassment? M.V. Lawrence is being made ready for its service to Ross Island from 3rd February. This boat with a capacity of 100 people was doing ferry service for the last three years in Kamorta. As its bottom plates developed some holes, it was towed back to Port Blair a month ago.
Around 20 days back one day docking of the vessel was done for dabbling to seal the hole temporarily. Originally the whole bottom plate had to be gauged and replaced with a new one. Even painting and bottom cleaning was not done before undocking, till the last report obtained by Andaman Sheekha.
Now it has been learnt that M.V. Lawrence will be in the service of the tourists from Monday to Ross Island. In order to meet the deadline of Lt. Governor, fire line repairing and installation of Life jacket is being done. Paining is done to give it a facelift.
Is the intention here is to only please the higher officials rather than concentrating on the safety and security of passengers and crew members? General Public would like to know that has this vessel been inducted into the fleet without proper IRS Survey?
In the present scenario, it will be better if IRS Surveyor goes through all the mandatory guidelines before giving a survey certificate. Thickness of the bottom plate needs to be gauged and the work done to seal the holes needs to be evaluated with a great sense of responsibility to avert another mishap.
When contacted the Secretary of Shipping Services, Mrs. Puniya S. Srivastava assured Andaman Sheekha that no vessel will be pressed into service if it is unfit.
“It is one of the boats that we have identified but DSS will ensure that it is fit before it is operated and a safety audit in any case will be done. He must have taken some action to repair it,” the secretary told Andaman Sheekha.
However, the Secretary advised Andaman Sheekha to cross check the facts with the officers of Directorate of Shipping Services so that the news doesn’t cause unnecessary panic.
But as a tradition the Direction is never available to give a quote to media and in all cases Andaman Sheekha is always diverted towards the Dy. Director, Mr. Veraiah, who is kind enough to provide us all required information, most of the time.
In this case when Andaman Sheekha tried the mobile number of Deputy Director, several times, the number was engaged in three occasions and after sometimes the number was switched off. Hence his comments are not available in this regards.
As the matter is almost out that Andaman Sheekha is coming out with a news tomorrow regarding M.V Lawrence, it is expected that overnight the decision of docking the vessel and repairing it completely, will be taken. In any case it will be good for public.
