TAXING LOCAL PUBLIC FOR WHAT?

Staff Correspondent
Port Blair, June 24: The weird move of Humphrey Gunj Panchayat to impose tax on every vehicle entering Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park has upset local residents of A & N Islands. “Taxing Islanders in their own Islands make no sense. If they want to raise money let them tax visiting tourists and every tourist vehicle,” complained an angry Islander.

At present the Humphrey Gunj Panchayat is charging Rs. 20 from every vehicle entering the Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park, when questioned sources in the area told that the money is being collected so that that money could be utilized for the maintenance and beautification of the area.

However, Andaman Sheekha team when visited the Marine National Park area, found that the Panchayat is doing nothing to keep the area clean. Garbage and coconut husk and other waste are scattered all over the Wandoor Beach, which shows that since last many month no one has cleaned the area.

When contacted the Chairperson of South Andaman Zilla Parishad Mr. Balakrishanan Nair told Andaman Sheekha that he has already suggested the Panchayat to charge less from local residents. “My suggestion was to collect Rs. 10 from Islanders and Rs. 20 from tourists. This money is important for the Panchayat because the Administration will release matching grant to the Panchayat only if the Panchayat collect some good amount and show it to Administration. The matching grant and the collected amount will be used for maintenance and beautification of the area,” Mr. Nair added.

However, he said that there will be a problem in charging less from Islanders. “How the ticket collecting agent will differentiate between a tourist and local resident. If a vehicle carries both tourists and local public, how much should he charge? There are many such issues,” he added.

Public demands that in any case local residents should not be taxed for visiting any place of these islands, if necessary the entry fees could be doubled for visiting tourists. Even if entry fees are collected the fund should be used properly by Panchayats, which is not happening in case of Humphery Gunj Panchayat. Atleast, indiscriminate dumping of garbage and lack of cleanliness at Wandoor beach, proves so.

Port Blair, June 21: To increase the nutritional value of classroom meals, the Lt Governor, Lt Gen (Retd) Bhopinder Singh, PVSM, AVSM has sanctioned boiled eggs twice a week to all children covered under the mid day meal scheme in the Islands from the academic session 2012-2013. The addition of boiled eggs will increase the nutritional value of the mid day meal provided to the school children in the islands. Children enrolled in the Pre-Primary/Primary/Upper Primary stages of schools run by Administration, Administration-aided and schools run by Zilla Parishad/PRIs will be benefitted under the scheme. About 43,000 students across the Islands will be benefitted and an amount to the tune of Rs 180 lakhs is likely to be incurred as expenditure.

As per MHRD norms, noon meal is provided to each student on each working day comprising Rice, Dal and Vegetables having nutritional value. The Mid Day Meal Scheme is one of the National level flagship programmes of MHRD, GOI to boost the universalization of Elementary Education. The main objective of the scheme is to address classroom hunger and encourage poor children belonging to disadvantage group to attend school regularly and to improve nutritional status of the children in class I-VIII in schools.

Port Blair, June 19: It is for the first time in the history of Andaman and Nicobar Islands that historical sites and monuments will now be given the status of Heritage sites/buildings. The Lt. Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands Lt Gen (Retd) Bhopinder Singh, PVSM, AVSM has constituted a State Heritage Committee which will be chaired by the Chief Secretary and will comprise Commr-cum-Secretary (Art & Culture), Secretary (UD), Dr Rohinder Lall, Representative of Local Born Association, Mr. Aberdeen Blair, Chairman, Tribal Council, Car Nicobar, as Members with Joint Secretary (Art & Culture) as Member Secretary. While Dr Rohinder Lall an eminent physician and member of Local Born Association and a fifth generation respectable citizen will be of valuable assistance to identify the historical sites and monuments in the Andaman group, Mr. Aberdeen Blair, Chairman Tribal Council of Car Nicobar will be of immense assistance to identify historical sites and monuments in the southern group of islands. Dr Rashida Iqbal, Curator will assist the State Heritage Committee.

People may not be aware that even the Cellular Jail, a National Memorial has not yet been declared as a national heritage site. The committee in its first sitting has short listed Cellular Jail, Gallows at the Viper Island, Japanese Bunkers, Chatham Saw Mill and Govt. Boys’ Sr. Sec. School, Middle Point as the heritage sites. More such sites and monuments will be taken up in due course so that these can be fully restored and protected. The State Heritage Committee has decided to carry out proper demarcation of these sites/monuments, appointment of expert consultants for their restoration, provide substantial documentation of the historical events and arrangements for their protection and security. In the first phase site plan and schedule of protection will be prepared including photo documentation and structural description of monuments. This will then be used for notifying the sites/monuments in the official gazette declaring them to be protected by the Department of Art and Culture, A & N Administration.

Upon declaration of gallows of Viper as State Heritage Monument it will be properly restored and protected. The restoration work will be overlooked by the State Heritage Committee. Now in a state of total neglect, its importance will get highlighted upon restoration and gazette notification. The proposed Yacht Marina Project will not interfere with the restoration and protection as the monument will be completely barricaded. For information of public Marina means a harbour for berthing of yachts i.e. creation of jetties for parking of yachts. Presently more than 100 yachts come to the islands every year and these are anchored all over the islands thereby giving ample scope of undesirable activity that may be carried out by some unscrupulous elements without the notice of the government machinery. Therefore, the yacht marina project aims to have all yachts berthed at one place to exercise proper command and control to ensure that no undesirable activity takes place, and also to generate employment for the local youth.

No undesirable activities like night clubs or casinos will ever take place as has been rumoured by some vested interests with malafide intention to mislead the people. On the contrary the State Heritage Committee and the Administration will ensure that the sanctity of the gallows of the Viper Island and other heritage sites and buildings is maintained, protected and showcased to the visiting tourists.