Savita Kumari & Vikramaditya
Port Blair, Feb 21: Since the beginning of Shipping Services in these Islands, the Shipping Department used to operate ferry for Rangat, Long Islands via Shaheed and Swaraj Dweeps from Port Blair, for easy movement of Islanders from one Island to another.
But since lockdown this ferry services, which is known as ‘Line Boat Service’ among local residents, was withdrawn, causing connectivity problems for islanders of remote villages.
Now, things are getting normalized and ferry services has been resumed for most of the Islands but still the ‘Line Boat’ service was not resumed for reasons unknown.
Earlier, people who wanted to travel from Swaraj Dweep or Shahed Dweep to Rangat, they used to travel in this ‘Line Boat’ to reach to their desired destination directly, within few hours but now, in absence of Line Boat, they have to travel to Port Blair first and at Port Blair, they have to stay for a couple of days for bus tickets and COVID-19 test, which are not only a tiring task but also very expensive for poor Islanders.
“At Port Blair villagers have to pay 2-3 thousand per head, everyday for lodging and boarding. The problem is same when villagers from Middle Andaman plan to travel for Swaraj Dweep or Saheed Dweep. They have to come from all the way to Port Blair, wait for a ferry, undergo corona test and travel via ferry,” said Mr. Bimal Roy, former Zilla Parishad member of Shaheed Dweep.
He said that remote villagers are facing this tremendous problem since last several months.
Meanwhile, talking to Andaman Sheekha, former Pradhan of Shaheed Island Mr. Rama Krishna Biswas said that villagers of remote Middle Andaman Islands and Swaraj Dweep as well as Saheed Dweep Islands are demanding that the ‘Line Boat’ service must resumed immediately so that they can travel to other islands without going through this long, tiring and expensive travelling process.
When Andaman Sheekha Daily contacted the Deputy Commissioner of South Andaman, Mr. Suneel Anchipaka, he assured that after visit of President of India, decision regarding this ‘Line Boat’ service will be taken “considering the COVID-19 situation”.
