Port Blair, Jan 08: Vice Admiral Anurag G Thapliyal, AVSM & Bar, Director General Indian Coast Guard called on Lt Gen AK Singh, PVSM, AVSM, SM, VSM (Retd), Lt Governor at Rajniwas on 08 Jan 15. The DGICG appraised LG on the future expansion plan of Coast Guard in the Island territories. The Coast Guard has plans to base more surface assets in all Coast Guard Stations in the A&N Island on development of berthing and fuelling facilities.
The Flag Officer also called on Vice Admiral PK Chatterjee PVSM, AVSM, NM, Commander-in-Chief Andaman Nicobar Command. Earlier in the day the DGICG dedicated ATM Counter installed by State Bank of India in Coast Guard area in Haddo, Port Blair. Vice Admiral Thapliyal also interacted with Coast Guard Officer’s and men, and appreciated the proactive response of RHQ (A&N) towards saving precious lives of local fishermen and apprehension of large number of foreign poachers for illegal fishing in the A&N Islands.

Saket Lal & Angshuman Roy

Port Blair, Jan 04: Room number 206 of Hotel Dhanalaxmi was completely destroyed by fire today at 3:05 pm. According to sources, the fire was caused due to the sort-circuit in the Air Conditioner.

As per reports, the occupants locked the room and left for Baratang Island without shutting down the AC of the room, which resulted in the fire.

On information a team of Fire Brigade reached the spot to control the fire but there were a lot of difficulties for the fire fighters to get inside the room. It took nearly 40mins for them to control the fire.

The Fire Fighters demonstrated tremendous courage by entering the room from balcony and breaking the door to douse the fire. One fire tender was used in this operation. Fire team was led by Inspector S. S. Khan. No one suffered any injuries in the accident. By controlling this fire on time the Fire Service Jawans have actually averted a major fire accident at the heart of city. (Written by Sarthak Kajilal)

Port Blair, Dec.26: The people of Andaman and Nicobar today paid homage to all those who fell victim to the Tsunami disaster on this day ten years back. A solemn function was held in this connection, in which the Lt. Governor, Lt. Gen. A K Singh (Retd.) laid a wreath and offered floral tribute at the Tsunami Memorial, Andaman Water Sport Complex here this morning. The Member of Parliament, Shri Bishnu Pada Ray, Chief Secretary, Shri Anand Prakash, Adhyaksha Zilla Parishad, South Andaman, Ms. V K Mariyam Bibi, Chairperson PBMC, Shri Aramugam, Chairperson SSWB, Smt. Ratna Kannan, councillors of PBMC, senior officers of the Administration and prominent citizens also offered floral tribute to the victims.

An all religions prayer meeting (Sarva dharma prarthana sabha) was conducted, in which the holy scriptures were read on the occasion. This was followed by a two minutes silence to pay homage to the departed souls.

Port Blair, Dec 21: The Lt Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands today released a magazine titled ‘Andaman Legacy’, edited by Mr. Sanjib Kumar Roy as a special supplement of the newspaper ‘Andaman Sheekha’. The first issue of the magazine ‘Andaman Legacy’ has stories on various aspects of history of the Islands and also on other subjects contributed by various authors and writers of the Islands.
About the magazine ‘Andaman Legacy’, the Lt Governor lauded the efforts of the Editor, Mr. Sanjib Kumar Roy for bringing out such a magazine. This magazine, he said is an important land mark in the literary scene of the Islands.
He said Mr. Roy is among the new breed of journalists, who bring freshness and positivity in their writings. The hallmark of a good journalist is that he/she should be factually correct, not pursue a vested agenda and at the end of their work, there should be hope and not despair. On local issues, he said all issues in the Islands are simple but what is needed is to look at them with a positive mind to get a solution and move forward.
Mr. Sanjib Kumar Roy also shared his experience about the preparation for the magazine, which he said is an effort to document the history, present scenario and creative works of the people of the islands. He had a special word for the Lt Governor, who he said has encouraged the local artists tremendously and generated new hope amongst the citizens of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Dr. Sudip Chakraborty, one of the contributors to the magazine also spoke on the occasion and said how an idea has taken the shape of reality. He also spoke about his own article in the Magazine which says “Let The Sweat Wash Away All Your Sins.”
The officiating Chief Secretary, Smt Rina Ray, senior officers of the Administration and people from the music and literary field were present on the occasion.

Port Blair, Dec 19: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Thursday successfully conducted a fight validation of the complex atmosphere flight regime of LVM3 Vehicle carrying a crew module, to study its re-entry characteristics. The crew module which is approx 3.73 ton in weight was lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota at 0930 hrs on 18 hrs on 18 Dec 14. Indian Coast Guard Ship Samudra Paheredar has supported ISRO in recovery at sea.
Indian Coast Guard Ship Samudra Paheredar with ISRO team embarked reached at Impact point area on 16 Dec 14 and provided range clearance for safe landing of the module. The ship was fitted with advance telemetry system from ISRO for tracking of the crew module at sea. The ship has tracked the crew module during its passage from launch to its re-entry and subsequent landing at sea.
Indian Coast Guard Dornier from Campbell Bay on 18 Dec 14 carried out the initial surveillance and located the crew module and vectored the ship. The ship on reaching the area launched ship borne helicopter carried out he pollution test of the area. The ship’s drivers thereafter recovered the crew module braving the rough and very different sea conditions.