Sarthak Kanjilal
Port Blair, Sept 13: Mainland bound Passenger Ship, MV Nancowry is all set to sail for Chennai on 15 September 2015 but it has been learnt that the ship has developed a hole and many question whether it is safe to carry passengers in that ship.
However, the Director Shipping, Capt Rajinder Kumar to informed Andaman Sheekha that all is well and the vessel is fit to sail.
According to sources, on the last sailing to Kolkata the ship met with an accident near Kolkata Port because of which a hole developed on one side of the ship.
Sources also said that to repair the damages, the ship was delayed for a day at Kolkata.
Sources further said that when the Ship sailed to Port Blair the next day and reached the open sea after crossing the river, sea water started coming inside the ship but the captain tilted the ship by filling one water tank on the other side and anyhow managed to bring the ship back to Port Blair in danger.
Now the ship is sailing on Tuesday and one wonder how safe it will be to carry passengers in the ship.
When questioned the Director Shipping, Capt Rajinder Kumar about this issue, he replied through an SMS that the hole was developed when the ship going alongside at Kolkata and the hole is well above the water line.
“The vessel is perfectly safe. The Surveyor has inspected and cleared the vessel with temporary repairs. Permanent repairs will be undertaken during the ship’s next voyage to Chennai,” Capt Rajinder Kumar added.

Staff Correspondent
Port Blair, Sept 11: Death of a Havelock youth due to alleged torture by a few cops of Havelock Police Station triggered massive unrest at Havelock Island.
Angry islanders pelted stones and bottles at policemen and policemen charged back on the mob, injuring a few islanders. Such was a situation at Havelock No. 3 Market this evening.
The GPRS network of Havelock was jammed to stop spread of photographs of the clash, it is reported.
According to reports available here the matter began when yesterday at around 10.30 pm a villager of Govind Nagar Mr. Amit Das was picked up for drunken driving by a police team. According to reports the police team had tortured the said person and later when the condition of the youth become bad he was handed over to the elder brother of the youth, Mr. Uttam Das.
As per villagers after reaching home slowing the condition of the youth deteriorated further and at 4.00 am. But when family members took the youth to the hospital, he was declared brought dead.
However, police maintained that the Amit Das was not tortured and he was taken to hospital for medical at night and was released on bail. According to police the youth was under heavy influence of liquor and creating nuisance at bazaar and following complaints of public he was picked up by police team.
The death of the youth triggered unrest at Havelock since morning all shops were kept closed and there was a bandh at Havelock Island. People were demanding justice. Residents of Havelock were also angry as all three cops Mr. Naidu, Head Constable and other two constables went underground since morning.
Following reports of protest a team of 27 IRBn Jawans, 3 Head Constables and 24 Constables, were sent to Havelock to maintain law and order. Even the Superintendent of Police of South Andaman reached the spot to control the situation.
The family members were demanding post mortem by a independent agency following which a team of senior doctors were sent to Havelock from Port Blair.
But at around 8.30 pm the mob started attacking police, when the rumour spread among public that the post mortem reports says that cause of death of injury on the head of Amit Das, a fisherman by profession.
According to reports the clash was brought under control at around 9.45 PM.
Meanwhile, tourists suffered a great deal at Havelock because of the sudden bandh. A group of tourists who reached Port Blair this evening said they did not get even water from any shop and had to travel to Port Blair without Lunch.

PORT BLAIR: Strongly opposing the allegations levelled in the local media on malpractices in the recruitment of LDCs in the Naval Component Unit, the Andaman and Nicobar Command claimed that the process has been fair and transparent. A total of 5807 call letters were forwarded by registered post to the eligible candidates, based on scrutiny by Board of Officers of the applications received till the last date. The candidates appearing for the written exam were divided into two groups and were allotted two schools (KV II and NCS) in two batches. The first batch of candidates was asked to report at 0700 h and the second batch to report at 1000 h on 30 Aug 15 for the written exam. The conduct of the written exam was undertaken by a separate Board of Officers.
On receipt of call letters, several candidates including those hailing from remote areas of Andaman & Nicobar Islands telephonically conveyed their inability to make two / three trips to Port Blair for the recruitment purpose. Similar requests were received from the candidates from Main land and North east states. Hence all efforts were made to complete the written exam, interview and the type test formalities in the minimum possible timeframe, without compromising on the procedures and even at the cost of personal inconvenience of the organizers and administrative constraints.
Accordingly, evaluation of the answer sheets was carried out on 31 Aug and 01 Sep 15 by a different Board of Officers, the results of which were published in the Daily Telegrams and the official govt. web site on 02 Sep 15. The interview was conducted from 0900h to 2000 h on 03 Sep and 04 Sep 15 at ANCOCEE. The interview was conducted by a Board of Officers, consisting of civilian gazetted officers from the minority community and OBCs out of which one was an islander.
The entire process was transparent and all assistance was rendered to the candidates. Even duplicate hall tickets were issued to at least five candidates, who had lost the original Hall Tickets. It may be noted that almost 36 call letters/ hall tickets were returned by the postal authorities due to incorrect addresses furnished by the applicants or locked houses.
At no stage the candidates possessing higher education qualification than the basic qualification required for the post have been disqualified. Seven applications were received from the Ex-Service men whose category was not specified (U/R, OBC, SC or ST). Six out of these qualified in the written test. However, their names were not published after the written exam results, as they had separate horizontal reservation in any category for three posts. Later, names of the three ex-servicemen candidates out of the six who were interviewed were (roll no. 14LDC 3790 (OBC), 141dc 2512 (ST) and 141dc 1699 (UR)) were published on 07 Sep 15 in the Daily Telegrams and the official govt. web site.
The allegation of favouring candidates of a particular region are misplaced as among the 45 successful candidates after written test and interview, 24 belong to Andaman and Nicobar islands and 21 are from the mainland. While it is natural that unsuccessful candidates will feel aggrieved, we assure the public that the selection process for recruitment is totally fair and transparent, conducted as per rules and regulations of the Central Government, said Col Yogesh Sharma, Command PRO in the release.