Vikramaditya
Port Blair, May 25: As if indiscriminate and unannounced power cuts were not enough for people of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, now three DG sets of Independent Power Producers (IPPs) have develops snags, which will directly means more and more power cuts in South Andaman region.

The Electricity Department in a press release today said that 01 No. DG Set of M/s. Suryachakra Power Corporation Ltd., 20 MW Power Plant, Bambooflat and 2 Nos. DG sets of 5 MW New Bharat Hire Power Plant (HPP) at Phoenix Bay have developed sudden defects, due to this the availability of power has been restricted.

“The Electricity Department will exercise approximately 60 minute rotational load shedding on as and when required basis from tomorrow onwards in Port Blair and South Andaman area till rectification of defects. The schedule is tentative and may change any time accordingly to the availability/shortage of power. The rotational load shedding will also be carried out during day hours. The electricity consumers are requested to cooperate with the department,” the press release said.

The Electricity Department is always in news for large scale mismanagement surprisingly the Department was honoured with LG’s Commendation certificate recently. While General Public of these Islands deeply disappointed with the Electricity Department for poor performance it seems that the Electricity Department is going ahead with a motto “Here comes monsoon, there goes Power”.

Alok Mandal
Port Blair, May 24: Striving to implement the Swachh Bharat Mission, the Chairperson of Municipal Council, Smt Sheela Singh made a fervent appeal to the urban population seeking cooperation towards achieving the target of Clean City.
Though the civic body has initiated a series of steps, the Swachh Bharat Mission needs to become a public movement to achieve the desired results, she said speaking to Andaman Sheekha.
“If residents of the city begin segregation of dry and wet waste at their homes itself before handing the garbage to the sanitary staff then there will be no need to throw garbage. The segregated dry and wet waste should kept it separate bins before handing them to the sanitary staff for disposal. Moreover, such efforts will eliminate the need for searching roadside garbage bins for discarding waste. The Municipal Council is taking rapid measures to implement door to door collection of waste in all the Municipal Wards,” she said calling upon the citizens to shoulder the responsibility of Clean India. She also urged media to come forward to spread awareness about clean Andaman.

Pranoy Hawladar
Port Blair, May 22: A Hyundai car with Maharastra registration number was destroyed by fire on Saturday right at the Bhatubasti Bazaar.
The incident took place at around 6.25 pm when a defence family got inside the said car after shopping in the area and turned the car towards Minnie Bay direction.
According to report while turning the car the owner of the car detected smoke inside the car and responding immediately he brought everyone outside.
Soon flames erupted from the front portion of the car. It is believed that short circuit in the battery unit might have resulted in this fire. No one is injured in this accident. Before Fire Brigade team could reach, shopkeepers in the area extinguished the fire using fire extinguishers, it is learnt.

Port Blair, May 19: Indian Naval Ship (INS) Karmuk attended the closing ceremony of the 27th India-Indonesia Coordinated Patrol (CORPAT) at Belawan in Indonesia from May 16-19.

Karmuk entered Belawan harbur on May 16 with Commodore Girish Kumar Garg, Naval Component Commander, Andaman and Nicobar Command embarked to participate in the closing ceremony.

The ship was escorted by Indonesia Navy ship KRI Imam Bonjol into the harbour. Senior officials from Indonesia Navy as well as Embassy of India in Indonesia were present to receive the ship.

It was a historic moment as the first woman Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer from Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dr Shalia Shah, Counsul General of India in Medan, was present to receive the Port Blair based ship.

Dr. Shah was born and brought up in Port Blair and is a true native of these islands which made the reception more special for the ship.

The 27th edition of CORPAT was conducted from April 29 to May 19. The closing ceremony saw the two navies conducting interactive session on measures to enhance inter-operability.

The senior officer from Indian Navy hosted a reception on board INS Karmuk on May 17, which was attended by more than 100 dignitaries from various fields.

Among others, the event was graced by Mr Insinyur Haji tengku Erry Nuradi, the Governor of North Sumatra, Ms Nengcha Lhouvum Mukhopadhaya, the Ambassador of India in Jakarta and Dr. Shah.

DJ Venkatesh
Keralapuram, May 14: After a high drama, a 16 year old girl was rescued by the police recently from Keralapuram village of Diglipur.
The incident happened at Keralapuram village on 14 May, when a girl because of restrictions imposed by parents on unwanted phone calls went on the top of an under-construction building and threatened to jump off if she is not allowed to use mobile as per her wish.
According to our information, the girl was very upset with her parents for now allowing to talk to her ‘friends’ on phone.
Her parents were trying to stop her from talking so much on the phone but the girl don’t hear their plea and threatened to jump off the building if they didn’t let her talk. Seeing the situation getting tensed up, someone informed the police.
The police came to the scene immediately and sensing the danger, the police team very cleverly started scolding the parents to earn the trust of the girl.
Everyone was shocked over this kind of behavior but the police took the parents to the top of the building and kept scolding them. The girl got distracted and finding the opportunity police grabbed the girl.
Later,the girl was handed over to her parents after some counseling. The people present on the scene appreciated the smart move of the police team and thanked them for their services.

Port Blair, May 12: India has not witnessed any cyclonic storms during May since last two years. However, a tropical storm is likely to reappear over Indian seas in May 2016.
With the commencement of May, entire Indian East Coast along with Bangladesh and Myanmar becomes vulnerable to cyclonic storms.
According to Skymet Weather, a cyclonic circulation is expected to develop in extreme Southeast Bay of Bengal and adjoining Andaman Sea by May 13.
Thereafter, the system is likely to initially intensify into a low pressure area by May 14 or May 15 and then into a depression by May 16.
Further retaining strength for few days, the system may intensify into the first cyclone of the season by May 19. If this cyclone comes into the existence it will be named as ‘Roanu’.
Though the upcoming weather system poses a definite threat to Indian coastline but weather models are indicating that it may finally head towards Bangladesh or Myanmar coast.
According to Skymet Weather, weather conditions are favourable for the formation of cyclonic storm in Bay of Bengal.
One of the prominent features is the active Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) in Indian Ocean that will trigger the formation of cyclonic circulation in Bay of Bengal.
Other parameter required is the adequate sea surface temperatures that are quite favourable at present.
Moreover, Monsoon current also hovers just around the Indian seas during this time of the year.
Such systems during May hold great relevance for the country as they are primarily responsible for ushering in the Southwest Monsoon over Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Accordingly, this brewing system will also lead to early onset of Monsoon 2016 over Bay Islands between May 18 and May 20. (Source: http://www.skymetweather.com)

DJ Venkatesh
Diglipur, May 11: A Major jungle fire has been reported from DB Gram of Diglipur today. The fire which started at about 12 pm near 7 Family area, DB Gram soon spread to nearby areas.
About 15 hectare area has been reportedly destroyed in this fire. Out of this, more than 3 hectare area is presumed to be in revenue land while rest is reserve forest.
After receiving the information, two fire tenders were deployed by Fire Services later Disaster management team joined the drill.
5 No Excavators, all range forest officials and staff along with DFO, ACF, IRBN, Police officers and other personnel, revenue officials along with Asst Commissioner, Tehsildar joined the task.
An Ambulance was kept standby as the area having some houses.
Till 8 PM, 11 fire tender trips were made to douse the fire, which are having a capacity of ,6000Lt & 4500LT, it means 58500Lt water utilised upto 8 pm. Till late evening a fire ring was successfully created using Excavators, which limited the fire area.

Sources alleged that it is a clear cut case fire caused by local people.
Within a month this is the fifth time, fire was reported from the area.

Some villagers in Diglipur are having a habit of clearing the grass during summer days with fire. The fire soon spreads to nearby areas which causing lot of damage to the plantation and trees.

On Monday also a fire reported at Sitanagar where a person accepted that he initially lit the fire which turned uncontrollable later.

Soon he informed the Fire Station which later controlled the fire. Asst Commissioner also reached the spot and ordered to take action against that person. The Fire Officer sent a report to CFO Port Blair in this regarding.