Port Blair, Aug 28: The Lt Governor of A&N Islands, Prof Jagdish Mukhi called on the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi at New Delhi on 27th August 2016, and apprised him about various important issues such as green power, under sea cable project and bridges & roads in A&N Islands. He informed that the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), GoI has sanctioned 100 MW Solar Power projects at various locations in these Islands which are expected to be completed by December 2018. He stated that there is a tremendous potential for harnessing Wind and Tidal/Wave Energy for power generation in the A&N Islands and urged that the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy may be requested to set up such projects in these islands.
Stating that inadequate telecom connectivity is one of the major problems faced by residents of A & N Islands, the Lt Governor informed that the present mode of connectivity is through satellite medium and bandwidth, which is around 1.02 Gbps as against the requirement of 55.65 Gbps. The project of connecting under sea cable optical fibre between Chennai and Port Blair with five Islands has now been taken up by the Department of Telecommunication and cabinet approval is awaited.
He further informed that two bridges are being constructed over the creeks at Middle Strait and Humphrey Strait. Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) clearance for the above projects has been sought from Ministry of Environment & Forests, GoI which may be expedited. Further NHIDCL has been recently entrusted the task of upgradation of NH 223 and the project may be expedited, the LG observed.
