Time to take stringent action

Staff Correspondent

Port Blair, Feb 03: In a shocking incident one more employees of electricity department got electrocuted today just because some other employees of the same department did not kill the power of High Tension Lines of the area where the victim employee was working with others.

The incident occurred at around 9.30 am today near Fisheries Colony of Nayagaon when a Daily Rated Mazdoor, Mr. Abil Tirkey, the victim, was working to replace a transformer with other fellow employees of Electricity Department.

According to reports the old transfer of the area was brought down earlier and efforts were on to install a new transformer with the help of a crane. Mr. Tirkey, with others was supporting the new transformer to make sure, it is placed at the right place but suddenly the boom of the new transformer came in the contact with the High Tension Line, above, which resulted in electrocution of Mr. Abil Tirkey.

According to eye witnesses Tirkey fell on a very hard surface of the ground, which caused further injuries to the Daily Rated Mazdoor.

Immediately Tirkey was rushed to the G B Pant Hospital, where he was kept under observation in ICU room. According to colleagues of Mr. Tirkey, his condition is still critical. “He has been kept in oxygen. He is unable to speak,” said one of the colleagues of Mr. Tirkey.

This is not first such incident in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. In last two year atleast two persons have died in Port Blair city due to electrocution. Recently an employee of Electricity Department was electrocuted at Mayabunder area. There are many other examples in last five years.

This clearly shows that something has terribly wrong with the management of Electricity Department, where safety has become the last priority. Due to mistakes of JEs of the concerned areas, poor linemen and Daily Rated Mazdoors are dying. After every such incident the Administration is ordering a probe, which is yielding zero results, it seems.

Perhaps this is high time for the Administration to take some strict action on those who are responsible for these deaths and incidents of electrocution.

However, after repeated efforts Superintending Engineer of Electricity Department could not be reached over phone.

When contacted the Executive Engineer of Electricity Department told Andaman Sheekha that order has been already passed for a detailed report, to know actual the reasons behind the incident.

“I agree this is a mistake. Though the isolation-switch upto the site of work was switched off but the High Tension Line was not switched off for some reasons. Usually boom never reaches upto HTL, it is purely an accident. We have acute shortage of man power. Though our work has increased nearly 100 percent our manpower did not increase, hence these kind of accidents are taking place,” Mr. P K Singh the Executive Engineer of Electricity Department told Andaman Sheekha today.

It seems that because of the failure of the Administration fix responsibility on negligent and careless officials of electricity department, this kind of incidents are occurring again and again. Hopefully this time the Administration will punish those, for whom Mr. Tirkey is battling with life in ICU.

Bureau Report
Port Blair, Jan 27: This Republic Day brought honour for two most deserving Officers of Andaman and Nicobar Police. Mr. SBS Tyagi, IPS, the Superintendent of Police, South Andaman District has been awarded the coveted President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service by Her Excellency the President of India on the eve of the Republic Day 2012. Mr. Tyagi has won this prestigious medal for rendering commendable service to the nation in his 28-year long career in Police.

Here, Mr. Chinmoy Biswal, ASP (SA) was honoured with Lt. Governor’s Commendation Certificate (the highest honour in A & N Islands) on the occasion of Republic Day celebration at Netaji Stadium yesterday.

The Present batch of IPS officers, in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, have solved some of the most difficult cases of these Islands and such honours stand truly justified.

According to official statements, among commendable works of Mr. SBS Tyagi, figure the fair and transparent recruitment of 506 Police Constables and the promotion test for Head Constables, supervision of the Special Investigation Team for the sensitive CBSE Question paper leakage case and the high profile Explosive case. As the SP/ in charge of the Traffic, he has ensured the streamlining of the ever burgeoning vehicular traffic in Port Blair area and the enforcement of traffic rules. Under him, the PMF and the local police have made significant achievements in anti-poaching operations. Mr. SBS Tyagi had earlier been awarded the Police Medal for Meritorious Service in the year 2006.

Regarding Mr. Chinmoy Biswal, as Dy S P of South Andaman, he was an integral part of almost all the cases and events mentioned above. He had played a major role in later part of CBSE question Paper Leakage Case and solving the case of illegal explosives.

 

Port Blair, Jan 24: Taking swift action Andaman and Nicobar police have arrested two persons in Jarawa semi naked dance video case. These are first two arrests in this case, which had created a hue and cry in international and national media.
“Two accused persons named Rajesh Kumar Vyas, owner of Vyas Bothers and Sarjeet Singh @ Guddu a private driver have been arrested for organizing a trip to the Jarawa Reserves for a foreigner, Gethin Chamberlian in lieu of hefty monetary consideration with a promise to ensure contact with the members of the particularly vulnerable tribe, the Jarawas,” Director General of Police said today in a press release.
According to police, Rajesh Vyas had asked his friend Sarjeet Singh @ Guddu who is the owner of a Tata Sumo vehicle, bearing registration No. AN-01-E 9291 to take the foreigner for a trip to Jarawa Reserve in the month of December, 2011 and to ensure contact with the primitive tribe, as if the later were a commodity on display.
“When the promised contact with the Jarawas didn’t materialize due to the heavily regulated convoy, the accused person is alleged to have transferred the video of Jarawa women dancing to the said foreigner using his mobile phone via Bluetooth,” the DGP claimed.
According to police, the accused persons lured the foreigner and extracted a huge amount of money (approximately Rs 25,000) on the pretext of needing to bribe policemen.
“However, the foreigner later turned out to be an undercover reporter of the newspaper, Guardian/Observer, United Kingdom, who published his story on the internet. After sustained interrogation, Rajesh Kumar Vyas and Sarjeet Singh @ Guddu admitted to have committed this crime,” the DGP added.
He said that Rajesh Kumar Vyas was also confronted with the audio clip, uploaded by Gethin Chamberlain on the internet which contains his conversation regarding the trip.
“Rajesh Kumar Vyas admitted that it was his voice on the audio. The audio clip is being sent for forensic examination to tally the same with the voice sample of the accused. The accused persons organized the trip to the Jarawa Reserves for a foreigner, which amounts to intentionally insulting with the intent to humiliate a vulnerable primitive tribe of these islands,” the DGP mentioned in his press release. Both the accused have been arrested yesterday.
“The investigation is further underway to nab the unknown culprits who shot the video of Jarawa women dancing for food articles. Some definite leads have come up during the course of investigation. All out efforts are being made trace out the culprits involved in this deplorable act,” the DGP added.

Staff Correspondent
Port Blair, Jan 18: On 22 September 2011, Andaman Sheekha had published a detailed report about transformers, which are posing serious risk to general public, especially children. Andaman Sheekha team had found that most of the transformers in city are installed without proper fencing. Soon after the report the Lt. Governor had directed the Electricity Department to ensure proper fencing all transformers within a specific date but it seems that even after four long months the electricity department has failed to complete the task.

Though in some areas the electricity department has installed proper fencing but in other areas, situation remains same as it was, four months back. Most glaring example of Electricity Department’s negligence could be seen inside the campus of Boys School. Just one meter away from the main gate of Boys School, where hundreds of students wait for bus everyday, one can find a massive transformer installed without any fencing. Children playing around the said transformer, is a common sight. Photograph of the Transformer shows half a dozen of loose electric cables, one the ground, coming out of the transformer, which can kill anyone at any point of time.

One can find another such transformer inside the G B Pant Hospital, infront of the TB Ward. This transformer is also yet to be fenced by the electricity department.

These are not the only such examples of electricity department’s carelessness. It seems that even clear cut directions from Raj Niwas are not enough for the electricity department to ensure 100 percent safety for Islanders.

In past there have been many cases, where due to the negligence of the Electricity Department many innocent people and also staff of the same department have been electrocuted. Perhaps this is high time for the Administration to fix responsibility of some officers in electricity department for this gross negligence, which can cost someone’s life.