Sarthak Kanjilal
Port Blair, February 06: A bush fire on Saturday took dangerous shape when it reached very close to a house and reduced the makeshift house into ashes.
According to report the incident took place at the encroachment pocket of Corbyn’s Cove, where even after best efforts fire fighters could not take the fire tender. The fire reportedly broke out at around 1.00 pm on Saturday.
Finally the fire fighter with the help of residents of the area anyhow managed to control the fire before it could reach to other nearby house, after one hour of sustained efforts.
A minor girl in the neighbor hood reportedly suffered Asthama attack due to smoke during the fire following which she was rushed to G B Pant Hospital immediately by residents of the area.

Sarthak Kanjilal
Port Blair, February 03: A newly constructed road at Nayagaon has been damaged by a Bulldozer, leaving residents of the area fuming.
As per reports, since last few days some kind private construction work is going on at Nayagaon near near Kali Mandir and continuously from some days a Bulldozer is moving on the road due to which the newly constructed road which was constructed after years of demand by the resident has already got damaged.
As per the residents, one of the residents of the area who is a Doctor by profession went and complained the supervisor and other staffs of the private firm for not letting the Bulldozer to move on the road but the staffs of the firm used abusive languages against him.
“We have complained the matter to the DC control room and also to the Police and it is more than an hour but nobody came to the spot yet,” said a resident of the area.
However after a large number of residents gathered in the area a team of Police including the Station Head Officer and the Patwari of the area reached the spot. The resident further demanded the police to register a case of public property damage act against the bulldozer and the private firm and also demanded the firm to construct the damaged parts of the road.

Port Blair, Feb 2: As per the instructions of the All India Congress Committee, the Territorial Congress Committee (TCC) of Andaman and Nicobar Islands organized a State Convention at Collinpur Gram Panchayat, South Andaman on Tuesday to celebrate and commemorate the completion of one decade of the mega flagship program of the UPA Government ‘MGNREGA’. The convention was attended by large number of congressmen from the three districts of A & N Islands and rural folk primarily the beneficiaries of the scheme from all over the Islands.
In his address, the President, Pradesh Congress Committee, Mr Kuldeep Rai Sharma spoke on the aim and objective of the MGNREGA scheme as a powerful Indian labour law and social security measure that aims to guarantee at least 100 days of wage employment in the rural area in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. He appreciated that the vision and will of Smt. Sonia Gandhi , the Congress President , the then Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh of UPA Government and the everlasting concern of congress party towards the poor masses of India has given birth to this largest most ambitious social security and public works programme in the world.
On the implementation of the scheme in these islands, Mr Sharma said that the scheme was launched on 1st April 2008 and since inception of the scheme the job card for the wage seekers were issued with Bank Account opened ,so that the beneficiaries receives correct wage and transparency in payment is maintained at all times. He added that during the UPA regime, the MGNREGA in these Islands has done commendable job by provided economic security to the rural masses particularly the agriculture labours , helped creation rural assets, empowered rural women, tribal of Nicobar district , limited rural-urban migration and fostered social equity. However, with the advent of the NDA Government at the Center and because of its anti poor and anti farmer approach, the implementation of MGNREGA in these Islands too along with the rest of India has been adversely effected as it can easily be visualized from the receding fund availability under the scheme resulting in drastic decrease in employment generation both in terms of numbers of households jobs as also person-days jobs during the financial year 2014-15 & 2015-16. He added that the poor implementation of the ACT at the hand of Central Government is rendering it ineffective which defeats the very purpose envisaged under the ACT. He called upon the masses to join hand with congress to fight for their legitimate right to earn guaranteed wages under MGNREGA.
The Congress leaders, PRI members and MGNREGA beneficiaries attending the convention sought intervention of the Congress Party at Centre and UT level for proper implementation of MGNREGA in terms of timely payment of wages, compensation and unemployment allowance as provided under the ACT. Mr Sanjib Mondal, Mr Mahadeb Maji, Mohd. Safique, Mr Arvind, Mr Amla Prasad Singh, Mr Anulika Biswas, Ms Mariyam Bibi, Mr John Robert, Mr Shanna Rao, Mr Vasudevan Nair, Smt Abla Samaddar, Mr Balakrishnan Nair, Mr Alagar Swamy and Smt Shanta Laxman Singh also addressed the gathering. Mr Sudir Chander proposed the vote of thanks.

Sarthak Kanjilal
Port Blair, Feb 01: On the MV Bharat Seema acquiring row, when contacted, the Director of Shipping Services, Capt (IN) Rajinder Kumar informed that Lakshadweep Shipping Services procured a new vessel, MV Corals, in May last year.

With the new induction, M V Bharat Seema Surplus went surplus in the fleet.

When the Ministry of Shipping Services was approached for procurement of new vessels for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Administration was asked whether it was interested to get the Bharat Seema under Book Transfer mode i.e without any capital cost.

The DSS evinced interest in the proposal as commissioning of the vessel will bring some respite for the people of the southern group of islands. With minor modification and certification, Bharat Seema will become capable of delivering better services than MV Chowra and MV Sentinel, the DSS added.“It will take nearly three to four years for arrival of new ships, we ordered and till then this ship will be a great relief for Islanders,” the Kumar added.

Port Blair, Jan 29: As part of social & Philanthropic service the Rotary Club Port Blair in association with Rotary Club Ambattur Chennai an NGO Sleeping Children Around the World (SCAW) from Canada has undertaken a project of distributing slumber kits to underprivileged school children at Diglipur and Kalighat.
This year a total of 1000 kits will be distributed of different
schools of which around 800 today distributed at Multipurpose Hall at Diglipur covering 55 schools, similarly tomorrow on 30th Jan 150 kits will be distributed at Kalighat schools. This distribution is done every alternate year in Andaman.
9 Rotarians from Ambattur Chennai alongwith Ahmed Badat, the President Rotary club of Port Blair along with 6 other Rotarians, DEO Diglipur present on this occasion
Funded entirely by donations the kit has contains utility items like Mattress, Pillow, Bedsheets, Pillow covers, mosquito net, Towels, School dresses, set of note books etc which are procured and put together by the members of the Rotary Clubs who start work months ahead of each distribution, sourcing items and assembling the kits.
Founded 40 years ago, SCAW’s mission is to provide slumber kits to needy children across the globe. Inspired by the sight of his own child sleeping peacefully on her bed, as opposed to images of children in underdeveloped countries settling for the pavement or the bare floor that registered in his mind during his days as a travelling salesman, Mr. Murray Dryden founded SCAW along with his late wife Margaret Dryden.
Since overheads are totally eliminated or kept down to the barest minimum, (SCAW’s headquarters is a functional office, everyone who works for SCAW is a volunteer, everything right from postage to film to office supplies is donated.) every cent of the donation is spent on the kit.

DJ Venkatesh
Diglipur, Jan 25: In a shocking incident one person today attacked his wife with a machete, in the middle of the Diglipur Bazaar, leaving her grievously injured.
Mr. Selestine Kindo aged about 58 years, R/o Beach Dera, Diglipur attacked his wife Rahil Soreng, aged about 50 years this afternoon because of some family issues.
Sources said that both husband wife were having some family disputes, which they wanted to solve at P S Diglipur.
Their son also wanted to join them at Police Station but during this time husband and wife started arguing in middle of the bazaar opposite to Police Booth.
After heated arguments, the accused Selestine, who bought a new Dah (machete) for agricultural purpose took out of his bag and attacked his wife on her back side. The lady suffered another hit on her face.
The lady started shouting and fell down on the road. During this their son caught hold the father from behind and a Police Home Guard Swapan Biswas who was on duty at Police booth rushed and snatched the Dah from the accused.
In the meantime Constable Ignatious Kujur brought the victim in an auto rikshaw to the CHC Diglipur for the treatment along with her son Manoj Kindo.
Soon police arrived at the spot of incident and at Hospital. As the lady was heavily bleeding, the victim was in need of the blood. Sub-Inspector Abhishek Menon donated his blood to save life of the victim. The accused was taken to custody and Police is further investigating the matter.