Vikramaditya
Port Blair, Dec 16: Mr. Dependra Pathak, the Director General of Police, A & N Islands have been transferred back to New Delhi after a very successful tenure in this Union Territory. The Tenure of Mr. Dependra Pathak will be remembered for various organizational decisions for the welfare of Police Force and also for the massive drive conducted by Andaman and Nicobar Police against drugs under his directions. As per reports Mr. Satyendra Garg, IPS will replace him as DGP, A & N Islands. Mr. Dependra Pathak was widely covered by international media after the incident of alleged death of John Allen Chau at North Sentinel Island in November 2018.

Vikramaditya
Port Blair, Dec 13: Post lockdown the Andaman and Nicobar Administration recently began operation of government ferries between Port Blair and Shaheed Dweep. Presently as per details only one direct ferry is being operated between Port Blair and Shaheed Dweep, in which both General Public and Tourists are given tickets. Other than this, one ferry from Swaraj Dweep, while it’s sailing back to Port Blair, touches Shaheed Dweep daily.
Now the problem is that tourists and general pubic are reaching Shaheed Dweep in two ferries, one direct from Port Blair and another from Swaraj Dweep but while return, Tourists and General Public has only one direct ferry. The other ferry which comes from Swaraj Dweep remains mostly full.
Hence people, including tourists do not get tickets on time to reach Port Blair. According to BJP’s Mandal President of Shaheed Dweep, Mr. Kajal Das, on Saturday nearly 30 passengers did not get tickets for Port Blair from Shaheed Dweep and most of the people were general public of Shaheed Dweep.
Tourism is important for the economy of these Islands but transportation of general public should also given priority as people only travel, when there is an extreme need. Hence people of Shaheed Dweep are demanding additional ferries for the Island so that general public and tourists can travel between Port Blair and Shaheed Dweep without much trouble.

Ganesh & Gracy Tripathy
Port Blair, Dec 11: The people of Baratang region are facing serious problems due to absence of regular lineman of Electricity Department. One regular lineman of Electricity Department reportedly sustained serious injuries in the month of October 2020 after falling from electric pole, while another regular lineman is supposed to retire this man.
In absence of regular lineman, the JE of the region is completely dependent on Daily Rated Mazdoor for regular repair and upgradation works. As obvious due to absence of regular staffs the daily works of electricity site office is largely hampered and in case of any fault it takes several hours to restore power. Yesterday a major area of Nilambur, Bartang Island was without power for whole night.
According to Mr. R Alagerswamy, former Zilla Parishad up-adhyaksh of North and Middle Andaman, there was a power cut in a major area of Nilambur, Baratang yesterday evening and the power could only be restored by morning.
Mr. R Alagerswamy reportedly spoke to many senior officers of Electricity Department to provide some regular linemen for Baratang region. According to him, he got positive assurances.
Andaman Sheekha also spoke to the EE, Electricity of the area, who assured that the matter has already been taken up. “Today we are issuing order and within one week one lineman will join Baratang,” the EE said.

Gracy Tripathy & Vikramaditya

Port Blair December 09: The Transport Department of Andaman and Nicobar Administration received its first electric bus from the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), under the supervision of Dr Navalendra Kumar Singh, Director of Transport Department.
Talking to Andaman Sheekha, Dr. Navalendra Kumar Singh today said that the Transport Department has signed an agreement for supply of a good number of electric buses with National Thermal Power Corporation. A prototype was made ready, and one bus has arrived for testing at Port Blair. Here it will be examined whether the bus will be able to operate smoothly in the terrains of Andaman Islands.
He further said that, the charging infrastructure is situated at the department bus stand, workshop and at Ferrargunj. Once the technical aspects of the bus are clear, a green signal will be given to start the full-fledged service.
“Our main focus is to make public transport pollution free, comfortable and most importantly strong in the sense where people can avail transportation without any hassle be it sufficiency of buses or the punctuality,” said Dr. Singh.
He said that public must try to use the public transportation as much as possible so that the level of pollution decreases to a certain extent.
“35 passengers can be accommodated in this bus at a time and it can run up to 200 KMs after a single charge. The maintenance of the bus will be looked after by NTPC, transport department will only provide the driver and the conductor” added Dr. Singh.
He further said that, NTPC is looking forward to upgrade the battery power so that the electric bus service can be extended upto Diglipur for which Rangat will be the charging station.
The charging machinery will be provided by the NTPC and the infrastructure will be provided by the Transport Department.

 

Staff Correspondent
Port Blair, Dec 08: Many customers of Campbell Bay area of Great Nicobar have expressed their disappointment over poor service of unprofessional public dealing of the Syndicate Bank’s Campbell Bay Branch.
According to complaints received here the bank has failed to provide satisfactory service to customers and if complained, the Manager of the Branch reportedly misbehaves with the customers and asks them to close account and leave the bank, if they wish.
Earlier the Syndicate Bank Branch of Campbell Bay was known for its customer friendly behaviour but now the work culture of the said branch has reportedly changed since its merger with Canara Bank, public allege.
As per complaint, the new manager of Syndicate Bank in Campbell Bay has imposed his self made rule on its customers and customers are not allowed to withdraw their hard earned money for their daily expenses as the manager has put slab of Rs 10,000 for withdrawal.
Sources said that many of the elderly people who are coming to withdraw their pensions, and tribal people who lives in remote places like Afra Bay and Makkachua area facing difficulties to get their rightful money for buying their monthly ration as they come once in a month to Campbell Bay just to procure their food articles for the month and just because of this self made rule of bank the villagers are suffering.
Moreover, as per public, the ATM of Syndicate Bank is also not in good condition the outer glass of ATM block is broken and all the broken glasses are still hanging which may cause injuries to customers coming to bank. There is no AC in the said ATM and no security guard. As per public most of the time the ATM remains out of cash.
Moreover if someone is going to withdraw more than Rs. 10,000 from bank, the branch manager reportedly deals with the customer in very harsh manner.
Now many businessmen who are having current account and who maintain lakhs of rupees balance in the bank branch are now planning to shift to other Banks because of poor service of the bank and unprofessional attitude of Syndicate Bank branch manager of Campbell Bay. Andaman Sheekha tried to contact the Senior Manager of Syndicate Bank
at Port Blair and also the Deputy Manager of Syndicate Bank, Campball
Bay to get a comment but both were unavailable for a comment.