Ganesh & John Wilbert
Port Blair, Apr 05: Nearly five months back the Andaman Nicobar Administration had started ferry service between Port Blair and Baratang Island, following Supreme Court’s direction of providing an alternative route to reach Baratang.
The ferry service between Port Blair and Baratang was welcomed by almost every section of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Although the number of passengers were always less in Port Blair-Baratang route but it was seen that during the return journey the ferry was mostly full.
It also was observed that people of middle Andaman, especially Baratang region, prefer to reach Port Blair via ferry than travelling in pathetic Andaman Trunk Road, hence there was good response in Baratang- Port Blair route.
There were also instances in past when the Baratang ferry was full and extra passengers were advised to go via Andaman Trunk Road.
Now as the ferry service has been disrupted people of Middle Andaman, especially people of Baratang are deeply upset.
For people of Middle Andaman now Andaman Trunk Road is the only option and it is known to everybody that it is difficult to get a bus tickets from Baratang region to Port Blair and even if someone manages to buy a bus ticket, the journey is always horrible in Andaman Trunk Road.
When contacted the Director (in-charge) of Shipping Services, Dr. R.D Tripathi said that the disruption in Baratang ferry service is due to shortage of vessels.
He said that Shipping Corporation of India was supposed to provide three vessels to shipping services but now the shipping services has been informed that it may take one more month.
He also claimed that there isn’t much demand for the ferry because in last five months of operation, the percentage of utilisation of the ferry was very very low, ranging from 1 to 20 passengers per day but he said that the Directorate of Shipping Service is expecting good response in next year.
However PRI members of Baratang claim that the ferry service between Port Blair and Baratang was not given proper publicity and even without giving publicity, it is seen that often foreign tourists and domestic tourists also preferred to travel from Port Blair to baratang via this ferry.
The response from Baratang to Port Blair is already good hence the administration must consider pressing a ferry for Baratang route as early as possible for the convenience of public of Middle Andaman region. There is also a need to lower the fair for non Islanders in this ferry because due to high fair, tourists are opting for Andaman Trunk Road, which is indirectly defeating the very purpose of creating the alternative route following Supreme Court’s directions.
