Sheekha Bureau
Port Blair, Sept 06: Presently Andaman and Nicobar Islands are going through a very sad phase. Forget about marching ahead the present administration is not able to maintain infrastructure and amenities which were in place 10 years back. It seems that the present Administration has no control over anything and people who are at the helm have given up completely.
Islanders firmly believe that nearly 10 years back power situation, the road conditions, inter-island connectivity were much much better than what it is at present.
At present not only Andaman Trunk Road, even city roads are in so horrible shape that one feel as if he or she is riding on waves while driving vehicles. When questioned about bad condition of Andaman Trunk Road, Administration points finger towards NHIDCL but the same Administration remain silent on the condition of city and village roads.
As far as ATR is concerned the Chief Secretary has himself directed the NHIDCL to complete the repair words as soon as possible but the NHIDCL has till now given only fake assurance, proving that the NHIDCL is mightier than the Administration.
Islanders now demand that the Administration must present the case of ATR to the Ministry and take back the ATR from NHIDCL and give it back to APWD.
Sadly the lone Member of Parliament, who has been backing the NHIDCL, is completely silent on the present condition of Andaman Trunk Road and the sufferings of people of North and Middle Andaman.
Adding to the plight the opposition parties, especially Congress seems to have no courage at all to raise this issue to the highest level. The Congress party which functions only inside AC chambers now-a-days has also failed to even acknowledge this issue, forget about organizing a protest.
In city almost all the major roads have developed hundreds of small and big potholes but sadly those potholes are also totally unattended.
Regarding power problems, the Administration for reasons unknown is only thinking about solar power plants, which appears nowhere feasible for Andaman in larger scale. While the Administration is busy in chasing the impossible dream, Islanders are made to suffer day and night with unlimited power cuts.
For name sale there is a load shedding of nearly one hour but actually there are multiple load shedding in every part of South Andaman which are longer than one hour.
Sadly while previous Lt. Governors were very open to Public and used to meet general public and stake holders of every field on a regular basis the present Lt. Governor appears completely unreachable for public. As voice of general public does not reach inside AC rooms of Raj Niwas, the problems are not Islanders are not redressed in timely manner.
While for a handful of people, life in Andaman is as beautiful as a Honeymoon trip, life of common public has become totally miserable in these remote Islands. If this trend continues, Islanders fear that soon Andaman will go back to stone age.
Short sighted planning is beginning to crumble :
Population is rising, so it the demand, but supply side is unable to match the rising needs, thanks to “short-sighted-planning” the citizens are at the receiving end.