Port Blair, October 5: The Lt Governor of A & N Islands, Lt Gen A K Singh (Retd), reviewed the progress of the work of the Andaman College which is being executed at Chakkargaon at Raj Niwas today in the presence of Pr Secretary (PWD) and other concerned officers.
The Lt Governor was satisfied with the progress of the works under taken at present. However, he has suggested some more improvement works in the College Campus such as parking spaces, land scaping by involving Horticulture/Agriculture Department. The Lt Governor has emphasised on timely completion of the project.

Staff Correspondent
Port Blair, Oct 05: This is matter of extreme proud that Havelock Island has been given award under category cleanest beach town in India. However, selection of the official to receive the award has left dozens of other deserving and hardworking people upset and totally disappointed.
Since last nearly a decade people of Andaman and Nicobar Islands have been listening and reading about news of police jawans cleaning the beaches of Havelock Island. Infact everybody knows that no other department have done so much cleaning work at beaches of Havelock than the police department.
When Mr. SBS Deol was the Director General of Police, he used to take newly recruited Police Jawan to Havelock tour to clean the Havelock beaches. Innumerable cleanliness drives were conducted at Havelock Islands by Mr. Deol or the then and present Dy.S.P Mr. B Saigal in association with the Forest Department.Very recently the Lt. Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands has also shown deep interest in keeping the Radha Nagar beach clean and had a meeting with Police and Forest officers at Radha Nagar in this regard.
Many feel that the Lt. Governor himself should have gone to receive the Award or the Administration should have sent Mr. SBS Deol or the present DGP to receive the prestigious award, which was handed over by the Prime Minister himself.
But during the award ceremony a little known face appeared on the stage to collect award, it sent shock waves everywhere. Dozens of other deserving people, who have worked day and night in Swatch Bharat Abhiyan were deeply hurt and upset.
Sources confirmed that a few top officials were also deeply unhappy with this because they had no information about such selection.
Moreover, this will be too much awkward for the Prime Minister himself, when he will come to know that he handed over the award to a person, who is not the face behind the clean beaches of Havelock. Moreover it would be disturbing for him, when he would come to know that there are CBI cases pending against the recipient.
There is a serious question mark that how such selection was done and who did the selection. Such prestigious award should have been received by a deserving person but for reason unknown, things were completely wrong.
Andaman Sheekha is not against any particular person or his background of Criminal cases but this is a matter of national pride and for this award the right person should have been selected. Atleast now the Administration can take some steps to ensure that in future such blunders are not repeated.

Staff Correspondent
Port Blair, Oct 01: A private cargo vessel MV Mariyajyothi today sank near Cinque Island of South Andaman, while going towards Hut Bay Island.
According to reports available here the vessel sailed for Hut Bay yesterday night with construction materials but today at around 11.30 am it sank near Cinque Island.
As per report on information the Police Marine Force Team reached to the spot and rescued all six crew members. It is still not clear whether the vessel sank because of overload.
Sadly after the incident there was lack of information about the incident, which shows total lack of coordination between Police Department and other stake holders of Search and Rescue. More details are awaited.

Port Blair, Sept 30: In a significant step, the Andaman and Nicobar Police has announced deployment of Home Guard personnel in remote areas deprived of Police presence or Outposts. Speaking to Andaman Sheekha, the Director General of Police, Mr Rajesh Malik informed that it has been decided that hard areas in these islands where deployment of Police is not viable, atleast two Home Guards will be positioned in such areas to instil an atmosphere of security among the remote population.
The Bit System of the Police force will also be strengthened in all areas of these islands. Police officials in all the regions of this territory have been instructed to maintain community policing effectively so that the people can approach the police without any hesitation during needy situations, the DGP added.
(www.andamansheekha.com)
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Port Blair, September 30: The Lt Governor, Lt Gen A K Singh (Retd), called on the Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Shri Pusapati Ashok Gajapati Raju at New Delhi. He discussed a host of issues relating to the Civil Aviation sector in the A&N Islands.
One of the important issues discussed by the Lt Governor relates to the special status for Andaman & Nicobar Islands in RDG/New Civil Aviation Policy which is to ensure all airlines operate to Port Blair as there is no other easy alternative connection from Port Blair to any other city/town in mainland.
This situation cannot be compared to other cities in mainland. He also urged the Minister to take up Car Nicobar as alternative airfield for emergency diversions. Further modernization and expansion of existing helicopter fleet also figured in the discussion.
He apprised the Minister of the need for commencing the night flight to Port Blair. Spice jet has already done the test flight while other airlines, including the Air India need to do so soon.
This is essential to improve connectivity to Port Blair. He also raised the issue of deployment of new aircrafts on Delhi-Vizag-Port Blair sector by Air India, which the Minister agreed to. The Lt Governor also requested for immediately starting Air India chartered flight service on Kolkata-Port Blair sector. On this, the MD, Air India responded positively.
Besides, issues such as introduction of international flights to Port Blair, rationalization of airfares by fixing an upper cap, as the high air-fares especially during the peak season is a big deterrent for development of tourism as well as a burden on the Islanders were also raised with the Minister. He requested the Minister’s intervention on expediting the construction of the New Terminal building at VSI Airport.
The Civil Aviation Minister assured the LG that his Ministry will extend all possible support for the expansion and development of the Civil Aviation sector in the A&N Islands.

Sanjith Das & Dilip Majhi
Port Blair, Sept 30: The Bharatiya Janta Party Candidate, Mrs Minoty Biswas has been elected as the Adhyakasha of South Andaman Zilla Parishad.
According to reports, Mrs. Minoty Biswas got 10 votes out of total 18 in today’s election conducted in South Andaman Zilla Parishad office this afternoon.
As per reports Congress candidate Mrs. Abala Samaddar had contested against Mrs. Minoty Biswas but she could bag only eight votes.
Mrs. Minoty Biswas was elected as Zilla Parishad Member from Gupta Para Constituency last month.
As per details Congress candidate Mr. Subir Chander, the Zilla Parishad member from Tushnabad has been elected as Up-Adhayaksh in today election.

Port Blair, Sept 29: The Lt. Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands Lt. Gen A. K. Singh, PVSM, AVSM,VSM, SM (Retd) called on the Minister of State (Tourism and Culture), Dr. Mahesh Sharma on 29th September 2015.

The Lt. Governor briefed the Minister about various developments taken place in the tourism sector and related areas in Andaman and Nicobar Islands during last one year. He has put forth before the Minister, tourism projects worth Rs. 71 crores, which have already been projected through official channels. The Minister advised to expedite preparation of DPRs for the projects and also submit additional proposals upto a total of Rs 100 crores.
After detailed deliberations, the Minister instructed officers of the Ministry of Tourism to process all proposals pertaining to Andaman and Nicobar Islands within one month.
The Lt. Governor also requested the Minister to pay a visit to Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the month of October 2015.