Port Blair, Aug 8: The much-needed renovation of the public toilet block at Billiground Bazar, near PHC Billiground, was completed and reopened today by Mr. Manojit Halder, Pradhan of Harinagar Gram Panchayat, at 10 AM. The renovation came after concerns were raised last year by Andaman Sheekha Daily about the severely dilapidated condition of the facility.
Responding to the public outcry, Mr. Halder had assured the Chief Editor of Andaman Sheekha that the issue would be addressed promptly. True to his word, the Harinagar Gram Panchayat prioritized the renovation, with Mr. Halder and his team taking swift action to restore the toilet block for public use.
The reopening ceremony saw the presence of several PRI members of Harinagar Gram Panchayat, invited dignitaries, former Pradhan Mr. Hirenmoy Roy, and local villagers. The newly renovated “Pay and Use” toilet block was warmly received by the community, with many expressing satisfaction over the improved facility.
However, the event was not without controversy. Some villagers criticized the “lavish” expenditure on the reopening ceremony, questioning the necessity of such a grand event for a mere renovation. Despite the mixed reactions, the renovated toilet block is now fully operational, offering a much-needed public amenity to the residents of Billiground.

Vikramaditya
Port Blair, Aug 7: In a shocking incident, an electric bus operated by the State Transport Service (STS) lost control and crashed into the passenger terminal building at the Mohanpura Bus Terminal in the evening today. According to sources, the accident occurred soon after the driver /mechanic started the bus and subsequently lost control over the bus, causing the bus to veer off course and ram into the building.
The crash resulted in injuries to some passengers but there is no report of any casualty. While three people have been reportedly admitted, some others were reportedly released after first aid. Emergency services, including police and ambulances, were promptly dispatched to the scene to provide assistance and conduct an investigation.
Initial reports indicate that the situation was chaotic, with injured passengers receiving immediate medical attention. Authorities are currently investigating the exact cause of the accident and assessing the extent of the damage.

Port Blair, Aug 06: The Chief Secretary, A&N Administration, Shri Keshav Chandra, IAS today launched the School Infrastructure Monitoring System (SIMS) Portal in the Conference Hall of Secretariat in the presence of Commissioner-cum-Secretary(Education), Smti Dilraj Kaur, IAS, Secretary (Education), Shri L. Kumar, IAS and other senior Officers of A&N Administration.
This web Portal will enable the Education Department to monitor the infrastructure details of each school on a real time basis. These data will be used to fulfil the shortage of each school and monitor the status efficiently for smooth functioning of the schools.
Features of the application/Website:
• The cluster can enter the details of the present infrastructure of their feeder schools and submit a new requisition against the requirement/shortage.
• Three categories of the component are monitored in the portal i.e. Civil Infrastructure, Human Resource & IT Infrastructure.
• The cluster will have the access for all the feeder schools’ data and the block will have access to all the schools under their zone.
• Visual dashboards for quick insights into the condition of school facilities.
• The teachers’ dashboard includes present availability and surplus/shortage for regularly monitoring the teachers shortage.
• The Monitoring can be done at Cluster Level, Zonal Level, State Level and Administration Level.
• The planning authority of the Department can update the action plan against each requisition of the schools. This will help the authority to monitor the status of procurement/works.
• When the requisition is fulfilled, the status of the requisition can be updated in the portal to keep track of all the demands and its fulfilment.
• All the details pertaining to the civil works are also monitored in the portal for various stages like Estimate Stage, Technical Sanction, AAES, Tender, Work Progress and Work Completion. This allows the Department to easily monitor the progress of the work.

 

Neeraj Kujur & Rabindranath Biswas
Diglipur, Aug 05: The Hon’ble Member of Parliament of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Mr. Bishnu Pada Ray, held a Press Conference at Port Blair today.

The lone MP from A & N Islands raised a plethora of issues during the press conference. He said that the govt. of India will start drilling for oil extraction from the Andaman Sea. The Ministry of Petrochemical is launching projects for exploring Andaman which is declared as EEZ. He further said that its project and a Norwegian petrol chemical company will start drilling to extract oil on 15th October 2024, for the first time in the history of these islands.

There are four projects of this type and initially three will be started. The budget of the project is 2500 crore, he said. One will be done offshore.

Speaking on solid waste management, he said three Wards in Port Blair may be benefited with electric supply produced by the use of solid waste, as affirmed by the Chief Secretary, A & N Administration. The acquisition/allotment of land required for this purpose is in the pipeline, he said. He further said he would visit other companies in Mumbai for exploring possibilities of setting up similar projects suiting the geographical features of these islands.

Then he lashed out at the Honourable Lieutenant Governor. He said in the press conference that Lieutenant Governor is the Chairman of ANIIMS and the board of directors and members are all IAS Officers, and the people of A & N Islands know well what is the condition of GB Hospital which is under ANIIMS. He further said that he has already started talking with experts on how to sunder ANIIMS from the non-technical officials and will put his best efforts to move forward the ANIIMS and function smoothly under the policies of govt. of India.

He then raised the question in respect of suspension of land diversion from 2019; he asked on what grounds the land diversion is pigeonholed if there was any statutory or executive order in its support. The suspension of land diversion into commercial has triggered unemployment in the islands, he alleged.

Then he said that the A & N Administration ceased the supply of DAP and urea to the farmers and as a result of which vegetable production cost has increased which in turn caused the vegetable price to go high as the farmers have to reportedly purchase these two prime fertilizers from black market at exorbitant prices.

He said that diversion of land into commercial will open up avenues for the unemployed youths and which is not happening sadly, he pointed out. And also urged the LG not to infuriate the youths of these islands, and since he was elected an MP he will continue to raise issues and become the voice of the people he said.

He further said that the LG, MP and PM are merely “janta ka sevak” and the LG is not bigger than the PM, he should realise this fact, the MP said. The Member of Parliament then asked what is the condition of all departments in A & N Islands and urged the LG to reflect on and deliver.

Deepak Kumar Singh
Baratang, July 31: A crocodile was successfully captured near the Kharra Nallah Bridge in Baratang early yesterday morning. Following several reports of missing cattle and sightings of crocodiles by local residents a cage was recently laid by the Forest Department.
The presence of the crocodile came to light after numerous cattle went missing from areas near Kharra Nallah. Villagers had spotted the crocodile on multiple occasions and reported these sightings to the Forest Department.
Determined to ensure their concerns were addressed, local residents took photographs of the crocodile and presented them to the Forest Department, prompting the officials to set up a trap.
After two to three months of monitoring and setting up the cage, the Forest Department successfully captured the crocodile yesterday. The Pradhan of the area commended the Forest Department for their efforts, although it took some time for the issue to be resolved. The capture has brought relief to the residents of Baratang, who had been worried about the safety of their livestock and the potential threat to human life.

 

Port Blair, Jul 30: Mr. Bishnu Pada Ray, Member of Parliament, A & N Islands, yesterday met Mr. Manohar Lal Khattar, Union Minister of Power, Govt of India and submitted a three page detailed letter highlighting the problems related to Power Supply regime in Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
In his letter Mr. Ray has stated that the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, which has a population of less than 6 lakhs, has been reeling under severe power crisis for the last many years. The power cuts have become a day to day affair with a minimum power supply disruptions for half an hour to 45 minutes on a daily basis in the capital city, a tourism destination. Sometimes the disruptions get prolonged. This problem has remained unsolved for the last many years.
He has further appraised in the letter that Port Blair is mostly dependent on private players who are running diesel fed small generators for transmission into the main grid. Despite this arrangement, there is an acute deficit of power in the Islands. The average requirement of power at Port Blair is about 45 MW. But all the available power producing sources put together including the department’s 4 MW power plants are unable to meet the requisites.
The problem of power crisis is not limited just to Island capital but is being experienced in all populated islands of the territory.
Mr. Ray has also pointed out that the 33 KV and 11 KV tie lines in Port Blair are very old and require immediate revamp to address the power cut crisis.
Mr. Ray has appreciated the proposal of undersea power cable to Port Blair connecting the region to the national power grid. However he observed that it may take many years to get the undersea cables laid and it can only be a long term solution. Currently the Islanders require a concrete intermediate solution to take care of the never ending power crisis through an expert team intervention.
Mr. Ray suggested that the Power Minister may consider suitable size Nuclear Power Generators which can meet the Isles requirements.
In addition to the technical issues, Mr. Ray also pointed out that the Electricity Department requires the revival of SE post and up-gradation of the same to CE post.
Further Mr. Ray has suggested that the Engineers working in the Electricity department in the Isles require regular exposures and training on advanced technological developments in the power sector, which the ministry may look into.

Port Blair, Jul 26: Mr. Bishnu Pada Ray, Member of Parliament, A & N Islands yesterday met Mr. Amit Shah, Home Minister, GOI, New Delhi and submitted a letter with prayers for SEBC categorization, conduct of Socio and Economic survey in the isles, for inclusion of left out category people in OBC category and for population based proportionate representation in reservation so that all groups within the OBC are provided equal opportunity for upliftment.
Mr. Ray has pointed out in the letter that various categories of persons / groups permanently residing in the Islands have been identified and notified in the mid-2000. This category of people essentially comes within the meaning and definition of ‘Socially and Economically Backward Classes’ (SEBC) living in the isles, which is commonly referred to as OBC category.
Ever since the time of composition of OBCs in the Islands demands have emerged for inclusion of more groups in the islands under the said category such as ex-servicemen settlers/ Sri Lankan Tamil settlers/ Malayali settlers/ Ranchi Settlers etc
Moreover, there have been demands for population based proportionate representation in reservation including that in jobs, so that all groups within the OBC are provided equal opportunity for upliftment.
In addition, as per the Census of 2011 only 1.6 % or so population in Urban area and 24 % population in rural area (mostly under Nicobar District) i.e. total approx. 16 % of population of Islands are covered under Food Security ( i.e only 12000 odd families or 60000 odd persons).
As a result only miniscule populations of the islands are getting benefited under the free ration scheme announced by Modi. Similarly, this faulty survey stands as a stumbling block in identifying beneficiaries for a large number of schemes announced by the Modi Government.
A Socio Economic survey tailored for the isles will help in correctly identifying beneficiaries under various schemes of the Government, he said in the letter.