Rabindranath Biswas
Diglipur, July 29: The menace of stray cattle in Diglipur is not showing any signs of ebbing away. According to information, a couple of days ago a herd of feral cows and bulls came out of nowhere during day time and reportedly invaded a paddy field and ravaged the paddy plants recently sowed.
Talking to Andaman Sheekha Daily, Diglipur Farmers’ Union, President, Mr. Kamal Halder said that stray cattle have become a real headache for every peasant/farmer who are now waging a war against these abandoned cattle in one hand, and they are not seeing any concrete initiative from the administration to be aimed at beating the menace of this stray cattle, on the other hand. At this juncture, the entire farmer community are in grave peril owing to these stray cattle, he lamented.
However, amidst all this tidings, a good news in connection to this cattle menace which came to surface was that the Veterinary Hospital, Diglipur has recently undertaken the task of tagging the cattle for every village in Diglipur. The initiative was reportedly taken on the request of Diglipur Farmers’ Union, President, Mr. Kamal Halder said. The tagging of cattle would at least help identify/differentiate the cattle if they are domestic or feral, Mr Halder further added. However, tagging of cattle isn’t the only solution nor is it going to end the menace of stray cattle, he argued.

Rabindranath Biswas
Diglipur, July 29: The pavements in Diglipur Bazaar area are in dilapidated condition for the last many years with trip hazards.
As per report, almost all the sidewalks particularly starting from Fish Market to Govt. SSS, Subhashgram Diglipur is in rundown condition for years together and which is causing severe inconveniences to the pedestrians especially for the elderly and children. People, especially aged ones and the school going small children are often found to get tripped on the broken tiles as they came off the sidewalk rendering an uneven surface on it. Obviously, when one stumbles, they get hurt, lose balance, and get into an embarrassing situation. They then openly curse the Dept./Agency for their indifference on the maintenance of this pavement. “It is the responsibility of the concerned Dept./Agency for making sure pavements are free from trip hazards and other defects as much as reasonably practical for public safety reasons. But, the rundown condition of the sidewalk starting from Fish Market to Govt. SSS, Subhashgram Diglipur speaks volumes of apathy/indifference of the concerned Dept./Agency,” said a senior citizen on anonymity.

When asked to comment on the issue, APWD Officials said that this pavement attached to NH is no more within their purview and the construction and maintenance of the NH and sidewalks are now within the ambit of the NHIDCL and this agency is solely responsible to carry out all sorts of works of the NH. The pedestrians and the general public of Diglipur, on the other hand, want the Administration to look into the matter and impress upon the concerned agency to mend the pavement for the safety of people.

 

Diglipur, July 26: The normal life of the people of Diglipur is being severely paralysed with the erratic power supply for the last couple of days.
According to information, after every 1-2 hour, and/or at highly irregular intervals, there is a power failure and which put the people of Diglipur in real trouble. “Though the power outage doesn’t last longer, it puts us into a vexatious situation to experience as our works are awfully interrupted by this frequent and irregular power supply”, lamented the job typing and other service providers.
Similarly, electrical/domestic appliances in residential houses in rural areas are also being badly affected by this irritant power failure, general public alleged. According to the villagers, the power supply once gone is uncertain when it will be restored, they further alleged. The goods they store in their refrigerators are always at a risk of perishing because of unexpected power outages, they fumed.
However, when contacted to unearth the reasons of the alleged power disruptions in Diglipur region, the higher Officials of the Electricity Department, Diglipur told Andaman Sheekha Daily over phone that there were certain unavoidable hurdles which caused power failures in the last few days. During this rainy season, trees and branches of trees standing close to the HT lines continue to fall on the lines owing to squally weather and the HT lines often gets tripped thereby disrupting the power supply. Repeated tripping and other related reasons cause flashes in the power control panels in the Power Houses which are also the reasons for disruption in the power supply, the technical staff of the department further explained.
However, when asked as how to permanently eliminate/deal with this undesired situation which suddenly crop up thereby disrupting the power supply, they said that the tree-branches are required to be properly trimmed so that branches don’t touch the lines and tripping doesn’t happen. And when asked why tree-branches aren’t pruned before the rainy season starts, they said that there were some risk factors involved in cutting the branches of trees standing close to HT/LT lines and touching the lines.

 

Rabindranath Biswas
Diglipur, July 26: Apart from the dilapidated condition of the National Highway in North & Middle Andaman district, the woes of its culverts continue to rise.
As per report, there are scores of culverts across the deplorable NH spanning Diglipur Subdivision which were constructed by the concerned agency and were reportedly left in incomplete shapes. The culverts’ slab-ends where the road seal-coat ends meet are marred with potholes and uneven surfaces putting the road users in unspeakable troubles, said the vehicle owners. Furthermore, it was found that the meeting ends of the culverts and the seal-coat ends of the road were bumpy and craggy. And most importantly, even the repair works undertaken by the concerned agency of the NHIDCL, after several complaints, are shoddy, corroding within a day, alleged the public.

Rabindranath Biswas
Diglipur, July 25: The age-old Bailey bridge connecting Ramkrishnagram and Khudirampur village is in ramshackle state.
According to information, the Bailey bridge which is crucial in terms of connectivity and commute for the residents of Ramkrishnagram and Khudirampur village was constructed by APWD, CD Diglipur during the 1992. However, since then the bridge was not repaired, a PRI Ward Member of Khudirampur village said. As a result of which, the bridge silently withstood the pressure of traffic for the last three decades and now no strength is left in it to further carry the burden of load of traffic any longer, he further warned. Realising this fact, a sign board which reads: Heavy Vehicle Not Allowed was erected close to the bridge-head by the APWD prohibiting the usage of the bridge by heavy vehicles and to pre-empt any untoward incident from occurring.
However, dilapidated condition of the bridge has caused severe commuting woes for the residents of these two villages, the residents rued. Since the heavy vehicles aren’t allowed to cross the bridge, heavy vehicle owners now have to take a longer route to reach their destination, they said. Even the light vehicle owners don’t brave/take the risk of driving their vehicles over the bridge, the villagers said.
The Ward Member further said that when the Bailey bridge was under the jurisdiction of Panchayat Samiti, retaining walls were constructed under it to support the columns of the bridge during the year 2005-06 and which were reportedly collapsed due to land erosion by nallah thereby further weakening the plinth of the bridge. When Andaman Sheekha Daily posed questions on the rundown condition of the bridge, the Samiti Member of Khudirampur constituency said that the bridge was handed over to the APWD, CD Diglipur for its reconstruction as the Panchayat Samiti is not capable of executing the work requiring a colossal amount which is far beyond the PRI’s fund capacity. Briefing on the current status and future of the bridge, Samiti Member further claimed that relevant papers are in Chief Secretary’s Office for further course of action.

Rabindranath Biswas
Diglipur, July 22: Port Blair bound STS bus which departs from Diglipur in the early morning at 05:00 a.m. takes a diversion from ATR/NH4 and enters Kalighat from Kalara junction for picking the passengers while going to Port Blair; and while arriving the bus from Port Blair departing at 04:30 am, it enters Kalighat from the same Kalara junction for disembarkation of the passengers, and it has caused a considerable amount of resentment among the passengers.

Talking to Andaman Sheekha Daily, Mr. Mahadev Gain, the Zilla Parishad Member, Radhanagar constituency said that he has with him the grievance of the STS bus passengers who poured out their vexatious journey experiences to him. Briefing on the passengers’ travelling experiences, the ZPM said that the Port Blair bound STS bus which departs from Diglipur in the early morning at 05:00 a.m. takes a diversion from ATR/NH4 and enters Kalighat from Kalara junction for picking the passengers while going to Port Blair; and while arriving the bus from Port Blair departing at 04:30 am, it enters Kalighat from the same Kalara junction for disembarkation of the passengers. As such, it consumes/eats away the precious time of the Port Blair bound passengers on board the STS bus which leaves Diglipur at 05:00 a.m. in one hand, and owing to this undesired delay at Kalighat, the Port Blair bound STS bus doesn’t get the 12:30 p.m. convoy on the other hand; passengers thus have to bear the wrath of the situation created by a whimsical and illogical decision, the ZPM alleged.

The passengers are left stranded at the jetties for about two-and-half hours; in fact it mars the entire journey of the passengers travelling on this trip, he maintained. However, Mr. Gain is not less concerned about the problems of the passengers boarding the Port bound STS bus (05:00 am trip) from Kalighat and he said that, so far the inconvenience of the passengers of Kalighat & Ramnagar areas are concerned, there is reportedly a connecting local STS bus plying from Kalighat & Ramnagar to Diglipur in the morning hours which serves the purpose that is to say that the passengers of Kalighat & Ramnagar may get down at Kalara junction and catch the Port Blair bound STS bus, and thus trouble eliminated; however, if this service doesn’t exist, then it should be in place to cater to/serve the said purpose, the ZPM insisted.

And similarly, the passengers coming from Port Blair by the bus which leaves Port Blair at 04:30 a.m. may get down at Kalara junction and board the local STS bus plying in the evening time from Diglipur Bazaar to Kalighat & Ramnagar areas/time arrangement of the evening trip to Ramnagar is done to facilitate the passengers coming from Port Blair by this 04:30 a.m trip, Mr. Gain suggested. According to Mr. Gain, the bus has to reportedly enter Kalighat route for even a single passenger and which is really exasperating for the majority of the passengers on board the bus as they have to unnecessarily spend about an hour travelling an extra distance (16 km to and fro Kalara junction) and have to bear the brunt only because of a single/handful of passengers.

The ZPM further said that the Port Blair bound STS bus plying to Kalighat in to and fro trips Diglipur and Port Blair and vice versa is illogical and unreasonable and which should be withdrawn immediately. And if this service is not withdrawn, then he demanded that the very bus arriving from Port Blair entering the Kalighat route should also ply up to Shyamnagar/Jal Tikrey (30 km from Diglipur Bazaar) and Lamiya Bay (22 km from Diglipur Bazaar) to drop the passengers, as the majority passengers, among whom there are long-route residents of Shyamnagar/JalTikrey and Lamiya Bay don’t get the connecting bus on their routes i.e. Shyamnagar/JalTikrey and Lamiya Bay and get into trouble after the undesired delay in the Kalighat route, Mr. Gain argued.