Vikramaditya & Sarthak Kanjilall
Long Island, Nov 10: The regular ferry, between Long Island and Yeratta Jetty, ML Durga Prasad was replaced by the vehicle ferry AUSTIN IV, around 10 days ago after. But such replacement with a slower vessel has left nearly 25 to 30 daily commuters deeply disappointed.
As per the daily commuters between Long Island and Yerrata, the replaced vehicle ferry AUSTIN IV takes 30 minutes extra to travel between the two ports.
“Already one hour long journey in Durga Prasad vessel was of too much of trouble for us, instead of replacing the regular ferry with a faster one, the Shipping Services has replaced it with a slower one,” alleged a resident of Long Island.
Every day around 25-30 people commute between the two ports, mostly return back to respective destination in evening trip. “Entire schedule of daily commuters has been disturbed due to the replacement of the ferry Durga Prasad. Moreover there is no proper sitting arrangement in the Austin IV vessel,” claimed a government servant, who does not want his name to be quoted.
Replacement of ferries is not the only issue; there is no emergency boat at the Long Island jetty to cater to the residents of the Island during an emergency. Earlier there used to be an emergency ferry always kept at Long Island port for emergency use but that has also been withdrawn, alleged a resident of Long Island.
“This has forced us to depend on the private fiber boats in case of an emergency that cost us around Rs 3,000 for a single trip,” said a resident of Long Island.
Hopefully, the Shipping Service will understand the problems being faced by the residents of Long Islands and replace the slower vehicle ferry with a faster ferry soon and also keep a standby ferry for Long Island.
Insiders in Shipping Services told Andaman Sheekha that ML Durga Prasad, a motor launch vessel, developed a hole and because of this reason as temporary arrangement Austin IV vehicle ferry has been sent for Long Island – Yeratta sector. Public demand that as most of the fast vessels are not being operated in inter-Island sector, why not one fast vessel is sent for temporary deployment in the said sector so that Vehicle Ferry Austin IV can serve in Middle Strait of Humphery Strait for transferring vehicles.
