After Shortage of Ships now reduction in capacity due to faulty Life Boats of two Mainland Ships

Staff Correspondent
Port Blair, April 10: Even as the Lt. Governor of these islands strives for acquisition of more passenger vessels for these islands and flagged concerns at 2nd meeting of National Sagarmala Apex Committee, the apathy of the Shipping Corporation of India in maintaining the existing fleet has created resentment among the ship commuters. According to reports, lack of proper maintenance of two major vessels in the mainland sector has decreased the passenger capacity recently and repeated requests from the Directorate of Shipping Services for remedial measures has proved futile.
According to reports, two Life Boats on MV Swaraj Dweep have developed technical snags recently and the passenger capacity was reduced to 900. Similarly, two Life Boats on MV Nicobar too developed problems recently reducing the passenger capacity to 825. Interestingly, the vessel MV Swaraj Dweep returned after major retrofitting from Oman recently, but the technical snags in the Life Boats were not rectified by SCI at the Dry Docks.
“The Shipping Department has raised the issue with the SCI on numerous occasions, but to no avail. Regular maintenance of the two main passenger vessels are imperative for regular passenger trips. But the SCI would take none of it. The vessels in the mainland sector develop snags at regular intervals and the Shipping Department is forced to curtail sailings causing harassment to commuters. The snags on the two Life Boats of the vessels pose a serious security risk at seas. Though the passenger capacity has been reduced, the SCI should have taken the issue serious and rectified the defects promptly for passenger safety,” said an insider.
There is already shortage of ships for Mainland Sectors and those ships which are in operations are operating with reduced capacity. Before every sailing public can be seen fighting for ticket but thanks to SCI the capacity of ships has been reduced, creating further problem for public, especially for people from lower income groups.
It has been learnt that two Life Boats of MV Swaraj Dweep will be reinstalled in the ship during next trip to Kolkata, if everything goes well but there is no move to repair the Life Boats of MV Nicobar yet.