Staff Correspondent
Port Blair, Mar 29: There was an inauguration plaque placed outside the computer lab of GDMS (Primary) at Middle Point, which read “IT Centre Inaugurated by Lt. Governor, Lt Gen (Retd.) Bhopinder Singh, on 5th September 2007.”
The IT Centre was set up by spending several lakhs of rupees but after nearly nine years no can find where the IT Centre is.
When last time Andaman Sheekha team visited the school it was found that out of 25 computers, which were procured for the IT Centre, presently only few computers are working, almost all computer chairs are broken and computer tables are in pathetic shape.
According to reports once all of these computers used to function wonderfully well and all these PCs were connected with Broadband and LAN. For nearly three years the Lab was used for various purposes by students but slowly things changed.
In 2010 when the Education Department took over the school from TGCE, since then the computers were allegedly never repaired and the broadband lines got disconnected as bills were not paid.
Many Computers and parts have vanished in thin air and no one knows what IT Centre means now.
Similarly, a Children’s Park, set up at Govt. Demonstration Multipurpose School (GDMS), Primary, Middle Point, Port Blair nearly six years ago, spending several lakhs of rupees, today look deserted. Due to lack of maintenance and use all the equipments are gathering rust as well as dust. Once the park was bustling with children but now the park is dominated by insects. Wild grasses have grown taller than little children and hence out of fear no student of GDMS Primary, dares to venture inside the said park.
When reported about this park by Andaman Sheekha in 2013, there were some efforts to cut grasses but again grasses have grown tall. Photographs taken by Andaman Sheekha today shows that even today most of the equipments are out of order.
Both the IT Centre and the Park of the School were inaugurated by the then Lt. Governor as such high profile inauguration guarantees all the privileges but sadly there is no one to maintains equipments and devices worth several lakhs.
Why there is no inquiry against such gross wastage of public money? Is there anyone answerable in Education Department regarding such misuse of tax-payers’ money?
Public requests the Lt. Governor to pay a visit to the school to see how due to negligence government properties worth several lakhs got damaged.
Andaman Sheekha does not intend to attack one person or one department, this is a report about discrepancies in system and we hope that the Administration will take some steps so that such wastage of public money is not seen again.

Sarthak Kanjilal
Port Blair, March 23: The South Andaman Zilla Parishad Adyaksha, Mrs Minoti Biswas will sit on agitation with the local unemployed CDC Holders at Tiranga Park, Aberdeen Bazaar if their demands are not fulfilled by the administration within next 15 days.
Mrs Minoti Biswas, visited the local unemployed CDC Holders today, who are staging protest at Tiranga Park, Aberdeen Bazaar, after she discussed the matter with the Lt Governor and the Director of Shipping Services.
Talking to Andaman Sheekha, Mrs Minoti said that she has discussed the matter of genuine demands of the local unemployed CDC Holders with the Lt Governor and Director of Shipping Services and during the meeting she has been assured that the Administration is working on this matter seriously.

DJ Venkatesh
Port Blair, Mar 22: Death of a child after drowning at Jawahar Sarovar located at Lamba Line has exposed serious security flaws around water reservoirs in the city. A local boy was swimming with four of his friends at the water body when the unfortunate incident occurred on Monday.
He was rushed to GB Pant Hospital where doctors declared him brought dead. The mishap, however, has sparked concerns about water reservoirs which are believed to be possible potential targets of militants and anti-social elements.
While Andaman Public Works Department is being criticized largely for security lapses, non-involvement of other agencies like Police, IRBn, CISF etc is being question as these agencies are mainly responsible for security of water reservoirs like Dams in other parts of the country.
“If small children can sneak into water reservoir like Jawahar Sarovar, why can’t terrorists. Anti-social elements are known to target water bodies to create havoc. For instance, contaminating water reservoirs with poisonous substance can wreak havoc in the city killing thousands of people. Terror groups like Taliban and Al-Qaeda have in the past threatened governments to pollute water bodies like Dams to execute mass killings,” said some residents of Lamba Line.
“In almost every part of the country, water sources and reservoirs are provided with a thick blanket of security so that any attempt to pollute the water supplied to thousands of households can be foiled. But sadly, security of water bodies and reservoirs in Port Blair City remains far from ensured. Officials responsible for the drowning accident of Monday should be immediately placed under suspension for the lapse,” say some others.
The responsibility of ensuring safety of all large water bodies lies with the Police, APWD and overall the Administration. There is a need to find out why there was such security lapse regardless of the purpose that water from Jawahar Sarovar is used for drinking water or not.
Efforts to contact the staff of Jawahar Sarovar for a response proved futile. It remains to be seen whether the administration takes some serious action against those responsible for the security lapse or waits for some more drowning deaths.
A few days back Andaman Sheekha had reported that how fearleslly people are indulging in open defecation around Kalpong Dam of Dilgipur and now this incident of children entering openly for swimming in Jawahar Sarovar shows that how much we are prepared to face any future security challenge.
A few days back in a programme on DDK the Lt. Governor had said on record that Administration has a SOP ready for any emergency situation but it seems department under the Administration are taking too lightly.

Sarthak Kanjilal
Port Blair, March 20: Here is a good news for Islanders. After nearly four months of repair works the passenger vessel, MV Swaraj Dweep is all set to sail for Port Blair from Chennai on 23rd March.
As per reports, the ship went for Dry-dock on 3rd December 2015 and the ship was at Oman for 29 days for the repair works.
As per some of the seamen of the ship, only the painting works of the ship was carried out at Oman Port and rest all the works like Air-Condition repair etc. was carried out at Chennai.
According to reliable sources, a huge amount was spend by the administration for carrying out the Dry-dock works at Oman.
Many questions that why after spending a lot of money at Oman only paintings works of the ship was carried. Why the DSS haven’t completed the full dry-dock of the ship at Oman. Now time will only tell us how much fit the vessel Swaraj Dweep is after all these repair work. However after painting the ship appears as new, as per the photo available with Andaman Sheekha.

Staff Correspondent
Port Blair, Mar 18: The delegation of Andaman Farmers and Officials of Agriculture Department, which was on a study tour to Sikkim, reportedly met with a road accident at New Jalpaiguri area in West Bengal.
According to reports, the delegation was divided into two groups. One of the group consisting mostly officials had already booked train tickets to their destination, while the other failed to book railway tickets on time.
After failed attempts to book train tickets, the second group decided to travel by road to Sikkim via New Jalpaiguri. But their vehicle met with a road accident in the area. According to reports some people on the vehicles got injuries while one lady, who is the government servant, suffered serious injuries in the mishap, while others managed to escape with minor injuries.
The administration is responsible for the safety of delegations deputed on tours to different parts of India and for making necessary travel arrangements. But in the instant case, the administration fell flat on both counts.
When Andaman Sheekha tried to seek details of the accident, senior officials refused to part with any information.
However, the Secretary of Agriculture Department, Mrs R Menaka spoke to Andaman Sheekha. She said that necessary steps are being taken to ensure the safe return of the delegation to Sikkim. She however, denied reports that anyone suffered serious injuries in the road accident. “Only one person got minor injuries,” She said.
However, Andaman Sheekha, however, has concrete evidence that one lady in the delegation fractured her left leg in the road accident.
This incident leaves many questions unanswered. Why the delegation was divided into two groups? Why the first group was in so much rush to reach Sikkim? Why all travel arrangements were not done at Port Blair?

D J Venkatesh
Port Blair, Mar 17: While the civic body has pledged itself to make Port Blair an Open Defecation Free City as part of the Swachh Bharat Mission, the insanitary practice continues unabated in several pockets in Diglipur, North Andaman. The village most plagued by the menace is Naveen Nagar where large people can be seen defecating in the open along the banks of Kalpong river.
Constructing toilets in their homes doesn’t appear to be priority for some of the Naveen Nagar villagers even as the Andaman Public Works Department and the District Administration have been ignoring the insanitary practice for decades.
According to reports, large number of the habitation in Naveen Nagar area is on encroached land and villagers reside in houses without toilets. Ironically, open defecation in the area is predominant near the Pumping Station to the treatment plant from where water is supplied to various parts in Diglipur.
Though rules prohibit open defecation under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act 2013, the administration for unknown reasons has so far failed to impose the act in the area which poses a serious sanitation and health hazard for thousands of people of Diglipur.
“As a large number of population in Naveen Nagar resides in houses constructed in encroached land, they don’t consider constructing toilets at homes as important. Open defecation along the sides of Kalpong river has been continuing for decades, but no action has been taken against such people. Moreover, poverty and lack of awareness among the villagers are among other reasons behind in the insanitary practice in the area. Such open defecation near a water body that caters to thousands of residents of Diglipur is a serious health hazard and the administration should take immediate steps to address it,” said some Diglipur residents.
The government has a target to make India “Open Defecation Free” by 2019 and UNICEF India is a key partner in the flagship programme, Swachh Bharat Mission. At a time when the Port Blair Municipal Council is working on mission-mode to make the city Open Defecation Free, the District Administration of the North and Middle Andaman Region should collaborate with Panchayats of North Andaman to sensitize people on the importance of sanitation and motivate them to construct toilets in their homes.

Sarthak Kanjilal
Port Blair, Mar 16: Hopeful of better services after inclusion in the city limits, residents of six newly created Municipal Wards are now venting ire against the civic body for its failure to address water concerns in their areas.
According to reports, dirty water supplied by the Municipal Council to households in all the six Wards have become a cause of grave concern for the population. Left with no other option but to consume the polluted water, swell in vector-borne diseases has been reported from all the six newly created Wards.
Claiming that services in the six Wards have only deteriorated since inclusion in Municipal limits, several residents of Ward no. 23, speaking to Andaman Sheekha said that the dirty water supplied to households is not even fit for bathing, leave along drinking.
“We’re having no other option than to consume this dirty water supplied through pipelines. Our children fall ill at regular intervals after consuming the contaminated water. Some people use packaged drinking water, while majority of the population in this Ward are forced to consume the water supplied by the civic body.”
“The situation was better when the newly created Municipal Wards were under the control of Panchayats. Water charges were low and fairly clean water was supplied to the households. After becoming Municipal Wards, the situation has worsened. Water charges have been increased and the quality of water supplied has deteriorated. Lack of staff in the Andaman Public Works Department is the main reason behind the situation as the existing staffs regularly pump untreated water to the households in the six Wards,” say some others.
Speaking to Andaman Sheekha, the Councillor of Ward no. 23, Mr Sanjay Meshack admitted supply of water unfit for human consumption in his constituency. “During the recently held District Planning Committee meeting, the Administration claimed that no water related issues existed in any of the Municipal Wards. But this is absolutely false propaganda. It was assured that services will improve after the areas come under city limits. But in this case, it has gone the other way. In fact the situation has got worse and residents are forced to bear with poor water services,” he said.