Sarthak KanjilalL & Vikramaditya
Port Blair, April 26: Even after nearly 48 hours of Andaman Sheekha reporting on the development that three vessels of Andaman Administration have been asked to sail for Western Coast, uncertainty over sailing of all the three vessels still continues.
As per reports, MV Nancowry did not get a green signal yet to sail from Andaman while MV Swaraj Dweep currently berthed in Kolkata has been verbally asked to sail for Western Coast in the afternoon today but probably due to the lack of fuel the vessel could not sail.
According to reliable sources the SCI officials have verbally asked the ship MV Swaraj Dweep to sail tomorrow, but doubt continues as the authorities of Directorate of Shipping Services were not ready for a comment.
However, the Deputy Director Shipping Services, Mr. R Veeraih who was available over the phone informed that vessel MV Swaraj Dweep is ready to sail but he refused to comment further. “Talk to the Director for more information,” he said.
Andaman Sheekha also tried to contact the General Manager of Shipping Corporation India, Mumbai, Mr. J Purushotham who refused to comment anything in this regard and just informed Andaman Sheekha to contact the Ministry, in this regard.
Though, it is not still clear whether the ships will sail tomorrow but it is confirmed that instruction has been sent from the ministry to the SCI to keep vessels ready to sail for Western Coast.
Andaman Sheekha has also learned that the Captain of vessel MV Swaraj Dweep has sent signaled the Directorate of Shipping Services regarding this development of instructions to sail to Western Coast from SCI.
However, after sudden orders from the SCI to sail to Western Coast during this pandemic has worried the crew members of ship MV Swaraj Dweep, following which they have requested the Nicobar Administration via a letter to provide them sufficient Personal Protective Equipments, if they sail to the Western Coast.
The Crew members of the ship have also requested the Administration to double their insurance as they feel they may get COVID-19 infection during their halt at Western Coast, if sent for some COVID19 operation.
Although Government of India and Administration has all the rights to position such huge ships anywhere in country during the fight against COVID19 but the way this is being done raises many questions. No officials are ready to comment anything on record which is triggering many confusions and panic among some people.
These ships belong to Andaman and Nicobar Administration and a statement about the current status and plan regarding sailing of these ships will bring huge relief for the crew and their family members. During the COVID19 when everyone is ready to serve the country why so much secrecy is maintained in this case and media is kept in dark?
