Staff Correspondent
Port Blair, Sept 08: A police Jawan, who complained severe chest pain this morning at Police Look Out Post (LOP) Tillan Chang, was evacuated by Indian Air Force Helicopter.

According to reports the Police Jawan was evacuated from the remote outpost of A & N Police at 11.00 am following a request made by the Superintendent of Police of Nicobar District Mr. Pankaj Kumar Singh.

The Police Jawan was immediately shifted to B J R Hospital of Car Nicobar where his condition is said to be normal.
“Earlier it was believed that the Jawan has suffered cardiac arrest but it was actually a Gas Trouble. He is doing fine now,” the SP Car Nicobar said while talking to Andaman Sheekha.

This incident has once again raised the question whether remote outposts of A & N Islands should be manned by Police Department or Defence Forces. At present for every need like travel and evacuation the A & N Police had to take help of ANC and moreover Police Jawans in less number in these remote Out Posts are not capable to tackle any future attack of intruders or terrorists.

This is a policy decision and the Administration must discuss this issue with Concerned Ministry and handover all remote Outpost to Defence Forces.

 

Car Nicobar, Sept 05: : Impressive Cultural Programmes, Sports Events and Felicitation of the Best Teachers, marked the Zonal Level Celebrations of this year’s Teachers Day. In the Programme held at the Priyadarshini Hall today evening, the Chief Guest, Deputy Commissioner of the District Shri P. Jawahar felicitated Shri Mohd. Wakeel, Shri Job, Miss Georgina, Smti Everlyn and Miss Rosa, for giving excellent results in the CBSE Class XII Exams, last session. The First Prize in the Hand Writing Competition was given to Smti Christie Vincent, Smti Lucky Thapa got Second and Helen got the third place. Thompson William of Tapoiming School was the winner of the Greeting Card Preparation Competition. Miss Anjana Mistry secured second place and Smti Alisha Mona bagged the third Prize.

In the very impressive Group dance Competition this evening, Mus School was adjudged the best contingent. Malacca got second and Lapathy school secured third place, though the presentation of the Headquarter School was applauded more. Miss Arifa Begum was declared winner of the Solo Song Contest. Anjana Mistry got second place and Miss Clearence got third place. In the Volley Ball Inter School Competition Sawai defeated Mus School in the final to become the Champion. Malacca School got third place.

Earlier Welcoming the guests the Education Officer Shri H. Nathaniel called upon the teachers to dedicate themselves for improving the teaching-learning standards in the Schools of the Islands.

Appreciating the Schools for producing improved results in CBSE Exams in the last session, he hoped that the teachers will continue working hard in the interest of the Children of this Tribal Region. The Guest of Honour, Medical Specialist of BJR Hospital, Dr. Titus Elphin too had special words for the teachers for presenting beautiful cultural Programme.

Earlier in the afternoon today, there was an Exhibition Volley Match was conducted at the BJR Stadium between the Indian Air Force and Education team. The IAF team showed better fitness and won the match.

In all the schools Cultural Programmes were held. Addressing the students in the Programme held in Lapathy School the Teacher Incharge Smti Daisy asked the students to be focused to their studies to get success. In Tamaloo, Head quarter School, Sawai, Malacca and other schools too similar programmes were held.

 

Car Nicobar, Aug 26: Even after reports published about the Poor Telecom Services recently in the leading local daily Newspaper and National Broadcasting media, the Telecom Company BSNL continues to remain unaffected and insensitive. The Telecommunication Services are still in bad shape and poor tribal community is left on its fate.

Rather the situation has worsened in the last few days. Villagers want to talk to their children, studying at Port Blair or in main land, but unable to do so. A resident of Tamaloo village Mr. Anthony told that his son, who is studying in main land, is not keeping well for the last many days, but Anthony is helpless and worried, as he is unable to talk to his ailing son, due to the failure of the mobile network services. The people of the far-off villages told that many times they can not call the Ambulance to take serious Patient to the BJR hospital for treatment, due to network failure, and the condition of the Patient gets deteriorated because of the delayed medical care accessibility.

In Chowra, Teressa and Katchal too the BSNL services are kept paralyzed. The People living there find themselves in absolute isolation from the outer world. The Chief Captain of Katchal Mr. Michel Yok in his written complaint to the Member of Parliament Mr. Bishnu Pada Ray told about the hardship being faced by the People of this Island. He said that barring the headquater area, the other
villages are almost out of the Network Coverage area. A local resident Mr. Sakki Kumar said that this is very unfortunate that the worst affected Island by the Tsunami , remains neglected by the BSNL.

The new Lt. Governor was expected to come to Car Nicobar for a brief stay, on the way to his return journey from Campbell on last Sunday. People thought that the VIP visit would put some impact, so far as telecom services are concerned, but the visit has left them disappointed. The condition remains the same after the high profile visit of the LG. Even at the head quarter area, the network is unavailable. The local unit of the BSNL seems to be helpless. The unit has not been given the adequate staff since its installation. People say that there are only two regular staffs posted to the Carnic Unit of BSNL. The shortage of man-power has been one of the main reasons for this failure as the limited number of staff is not able to carry out the maintenance work of the towers located at different villages.

Many of the towers have failed years back, and no repair has been done so far.

During his last visit to this Island this month, the Member of Parliament Mr. Bishnu Pada Ray too saw the pathetic condition of BSNL Network. In most of the villages where he visited, he found that either the Network is unavailable or is ineffective. Expressing Concerns he told that the region comes under the perimeter of disaster prone area and instead of providing the best Telecom services to this
region, the People are made deprived of it. The 2nd Captain of the Arong village Mr. Sunny James had suggested while talking to MP that other Telecomm Companies should also be allowed to operate in these remote southern group of Islands, so that better facilities might be extended to the People.

 

Port Blair, August 25: The Lt Governor, Lt Gen. (Retd) A. K. Singh, PVSM, AVSM, VSM, SM, visited Southern group of Islands from 23rd to 25th August 2013. The Chief Secretary, Mr. Anand Prakash and senior officers of the Administration accompanied him during the visit. On 23rd August 2013, he visited Great Nicobar Island and visited Indira Point, the Southern-most tip of Indian Territory and paid homage at the statue of former Prime Minister of India, Late Smt Indira Gandhi. He directed the Commissioner-cum-Secretary (APWD) to beautify the Indira Point and create a proper path from the helipad which is presently covered by high bushes and marsh.

Thereafter, he had a meeting with the HoDs, PRIs, Tribal Council, Ex-Servicemen and general public in the APWD Guest House at Campbell Bay. On this occasion, the Lt Governor distributed monetary compensation to some of the affected land owners whose land were submerged during the tsunami of 26th December 2004 and also distributed the Mission Logo of District Mission on Disaster Preparedness to the Pramukh, Mr. Sanjay Kumar Singh and Chief Tribal Captain, Mr. Barnabas of Great Nicobar and Little Nicobar Tribal Council. During the meeting, several issues were raised by Tribal Council, PRIs, Ex-Servicemen and general public. He directed all Departments to resolve public grievances in a time-bound manner and also advised the Department Officials to have a proactive and committed approach in resolving public issues. He also emphasized on the beautification of the Island and directed the concerned agencies & PRIs to take initiative in this regard. He also advised the people to only put up their genuine grievances.

He then visited Shastri Nagar to witness the pace of construction of North-South Road from 36th KM which leads to Indira Point and advised the In-charge Officer of GREF to adopt a two pronged approach: one, from the 36th KM side and the other from the Indira Point side in order to complete the road at the earliest. He inspected the jetties at Gandhi Nagar and Campbell Jetty to have a firsthand knowledge on the proposed transshipment port/project. The Lt Governor also gave directions to ALHW to complete the wharf under construction which is meant for berthing mainland bound vessels in Campbell Bay by December this year. He also visited some sites which get inundated by the tidal waters in Campbell Bay revenue village and issued directions to expeditiously complete the sea wall construction work pending there. He approved the construction of a footpath and also suggested to the Pramukh/PRIs to undertake simultaneous work on construction of shops, beautification of the main market and development of park. The Lt Governor also gave other time bound directions to the departments of Medical, Education and APWD.

In the morning of 24th August, the Lt Governor visited Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve at Campbell Bay, which has recently been recognized by UNESCO under the Man and Biosphere Programme. The DFO, Mr. Agni Mitra explained the ecological significance of the Biosphere Reserve to him and the team of officials who accompanied him and also gave the Lt Governor a tour of the nature trail that has been recently introduced by the Forest Department.

On completion of his visit to Great Nicobar, the Lt Governor and the team of officials proceeded to Kamorta Island. The Chief Tribal Captains, Smt. Ayesha Majid and Smt. Cecilia of the Tribal Councils of Nancowrie and Kamorta respectively extended him a traditional welcome. The Lt Governor then visited Kakana village to inaugurate a MGNREGA work on development of Coconut Plantation on a 2 Hectare area at Kakana village. He also interacted with the tribal leaders along with the local officers and got a grip of various issues and directed the concern Departments to solve those issues in a time-bound manner. He also directed the DHS to take necessary action to establish an Ultra Sound Scanning machine in the Community Health Centre at Kamorta. Further, the Lt Governor also directed the Deputy Commissioner, Nicobar to prepare a District Fisheries Development Plan in order to ensure improved livelihood options for the tribal fishermen of the entire District. Later, he inaugurated a Cashew Nut Processing Unit and a Cold Storage Chamber funded under the RKVY scheme, constructed by Tribal Development Corporative Society. On the occasion, traditional dances were performed by villagers of Munak of Kamorta Island and a welcome address given by Mr. Rashid.

Speaking on the occasion, the Lt Governor advised the Tribal Councils to come forward and form village level Self-Help Groups which can undertake productive/revenue generating activities and also improve their livelihood. Thereafter, the Lt Governor also visited the Champin village of Nancowrie Island where he visited the settlement areas and the water reservoir. He directed the APWD to complete the Champin-Tapong road on priority. Later at a brief function, he urged the Tribal Graduate Students to take advantage of the Special Coaching Programme for IAS/IPS exams organized by ITDA-Nicobar in Chennai and make the tribal community of Nicobar proud of their achievements.

On 25th August 2013, he visited Katchal, Teressa and Chowra. In all these places, he interacted with the Tribal Councils and general public and also undertook inspections of the jetties. He directed the ALHW to ensure the early completion of the works. In Chowra Island, the Lt Governor undertook a visit around the Island, by riding a bike himself with the Chief Secretary as the pillion rider. He directed the APWD to prepare an estimate for the construction of a guest house in Chowra Island for the benefit of the visiting government officials to the Island.

He then visited Car Nicobar and received the donation from the Tribal Council, Car Nicobar for contributing to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund for the Uttarakhand flood relief. After completion of the three-day visit, the Lt Governor returned Port Blair in the afternoon.

Tarun Kartick
Port Blair, Aug 08: In an unfortunate accident that took place this morning a bus of State Transport Service (STS) travelling from Campbell Bay Bus Depot to 10 KM area in Campbell Bay, overturned after the driver lost the control following a Hypertension (Blood Pressure) attack.
According to reports many passengers suffered minor and moderate injuries in the accident; most of the passengers were residents of Vijay Nagar area. Reportedly the bus was on its scheduled trip and had to return back to Campbell Bay bus depot by 9:30 AM but while returning towards its destination the accident took place and the bus overturned towards the right side on the road.

All the passengers who suffered injuries were brought to PHC Campbell Bay and were given first aid. There is no news of anybody getting severely injured. Meanwhile the PRI’s of the region met the distressed passengers at PHC Campbell Bay and promised every possible help to them.

Andaman Sheekha contacted Mr. Smapat Kumar, Dy.SP, Campbell Bay to know further details in this regard. Mr. Sampat informed us that “the accident took place because the driver suffered hypertension attack; two people got minor injuries in this accident one male and one female.” However eyewitnesses say that more than seven people were injured in the accident.

 

Car Nicobar, July 22: Melodious Devotional songs presented by the choir groups of different villages were the main attraction of this year’s edition of St Mary Magdelene Church day celebrations at Malacca village. In the Prayer song competition held at the St. Mary Magdelene Church Malacca today, the participating groups presented soulful prayers, which mesmerized everyone present over there. The Director of Sports and a local resident of Malacca Shri Lucas Robert presented his self composed Prayer song which was instantly picked up by the youth choir groups and they sang it to perfection. The song is written in English, hindi and Nicobari languages. While addressing, Shri Lucas asked the youth to keep their love alive for music. The music is the gift of GOD and we have to respect and nurture it, he said.

Apart from the young singing groups of all the 15 villages, the leaders of the tribal council, village captains, Education officer Shri H. Nathaniel and the devotees from the different villages took part in the function.

Earlier the celebrations began with the prayer by the senior Rev James Philip and the priests of the different churches of Car Nicobar at Malacca church in the morning. After the prayer it was the breakfast time for the visitors. Every ‘Tuhet’ of the village was given the responsibility of arranging food for the visiting people of one village. Large crowd was seen at the stalls too, where the visitors showed interest in buying the home made articles and food stuffs.

It was the occasion for the people of other villagers to meet and interact with the residents of Malacca village. This kind of religious functions solidifies the inter-village relationships, the secretary of the Tribal council shri Martin Luther said.