Sarthak Kanjilal
Port Blair, September 16: A 15-year-old girl committed suicide by hanging herself from the ceiling of her room in Kamraj Nagar area.
The deceased, a Class Xth student, was alone at her home last evening when she reportedly hanged herself with a scarf from the ceiling of the room.
According to the villagers, the girl was found dead at around 3:30 pm inside her room. The victim was immediately rushed to the hospital where she was declared brought dead. No suicide note was recovered.
The postmortem of the dead body was conducted today at G B Pant Hospital. It is learnt.

Port Blair, Sept 15: The preparation of electronic voting machines will be done on 16th & 17th September at JNRM Auditorium from 10.00 am. All contesting candidates & representatives of Political Parties are requested to attend the same.
The concerned authorities of PBMC & APWD have been directed to submit certification assuring basic minimum facilities at all polling station under their jurisdiction by 16th September.
The work of distribution of postal ballots is continuing by all Returning Officers to the polling personnel of their respective constituencies. As on date total 831 (Eight Hundred Thirty one) votes have been casted through postal ballots for PBMC and Total 1450 (One Thousand Four Hundred Fifty) for various Panchayat posts. It has been decided to issue and collect postal ballots till 17/09/2015 by the Returning Officers. All Returning Officers are instructed to continue issuing postal ballots accordingly and get the additional postal ballots printed if it is required.
The Office of the Director, Panchayat & Municipal Elections is also focusing on Voters awareness through various activities so that voting percentage could be increased and voters be made aware to cast their vote as per their best decision without any fear or favour. Street Plays (Nukkad Nataks) are especially getting overwhelming response from the general public, which are being performed at various locations in Port Blair & Ferrargunj Tehsils.
The polling locations are also made available in the SMS enabler system for the voters along with their name, polling station details and voters serial number etc. by typing his/her 10 character EPIC No. e.g. “PRI1222868” and sending SMS to 9434289934.
It was informed that all activities of political parties related to canvassing are permitted up to 18th September 2015 by 4.00 pm only i.e., 48 hours before the closing of the poll. The voter’s slip without symbol will be allowed in the polling station and the issuance of the slip to assist voters may be done from out of 100 meters from the polling station. Only one table shall be allowed for the same.
The teams for enforcing model code of conduct have been instructed to keep close watch on the illicit sale of liquor. Private bar owners and ANIIDCO liquor outlets are once again directed to strictly adhere the existing rules otherwise their license shall be liable to be cancelled.
The teams constituted for preventing the violation of Model Code of Conduct have been keeping constant vigil. Total 2585 (Two Thousand Five Hundred Eighty Five) & 218 (Two Hundred Eighteen) number of defacements have been removed from Public & Private property in South Andaman District & North Andaman District respectively. The general public and others are appealed to report any case of violation of Model Code of Conduct to Election Cell on 03192-238881 and 03192-240127.

Port Blair, September 14: The second round of training of Presiding Officers/Polling Personnel conducted successfully on 13th September & 14th September 2015 at DBRAIT. The arrangements for counting have been finalized. It has been decided to deploy a Senior Central Government Official as an Observer at each counting center.
Stringent action is being initiated against the Government Servants found to be involved in political activities. Ten (10) Show Cause Notices have already been issued to the Government Servants for their alleged involvement in such activities. The confidential cell constituted for the purpose has been directed to keep close watch on such activities and collect proper evidences so that appropriate action can be taken against the violators. All the Government Servants are once again cautioned to restrain from such activities.
The work of distribution of postal ballots is being done by all Returning Officers to the polling personnel of their respective constituencies. As on date total 764 votes have been casted through postal ballots for PBMC and Total 1260 for various Panchayat posts. It has been decided to issue and collect postal ballots till 17/09/2015 by the Returning Officers. All Returning Officers are instructed to continue issuing postal ballots accordingly and get the additional postal ballots printed if it is required.
Various activities have been started for voter’s awareness. Street Plays (Nukkad Nataks) are also being performed at various locations in Port Blair & Ferrargunj Tehsils for establishing direct outreach to the public. A rally of school children on voter’s awareness will be organized on 16th September 2015 at Campbell Bay.
The night patrolling by the Senior Officers of the District Administration is being conducted regularly and has been yielding good results. A few cases of violation of Modal Code of Conduct have been noticed and immediate action has been taken against the violators. A few bars have also been found committing some irregularities and appropriate action being taken against them. All candidates are once again appealed to strictly adhere to Modal Code of Conduct. All bars and liquor shops are directed to strictly follow the rules and maintain proper records, otherwise their license may be cancelled.
The teams constituted for preventing the violation of Model Code of Conduct have been keeping constant vigil. Total 2445 (Two Thousand Four Hundred Forty Five only) & 208 (Two Hundred Eight) number of defacements have been removed from Public & Private property in South Andaman District & North Andaman District respectively. The general public and others are appealed to report any case of violation of Modal Code of Conduct to Election Cell on 03192-238881 and 03192-240127.

Sarthak Kanjilal
Port Blair, Sept 13: Mainland bound Passenger Ship, MV Nancowry is all set to sail for Chennai on 15 September 2015 but it has been learnt that the ship has developed a hole and many question whether it is safe to carry passengers in that ship.
However, the Director Shipping, Capt Rajinder Kumar to informed Andaman Sheekha that all is well and the vessel is fit to sail.
According to sources, on the last sailing to Kolkata the ship met with an accident near Kolkata Port because of which a hole developed on one side of the ship.
Sources also said that to repair the damages, the ship was delayed for a day at Kolkata.
Sources further said that when the Ship sailed to Port Blair the next day and reached the open sea after crossing the river, sea water started coming inside the ship but the captain tilted the ship by filling one water tank on the other side and anyhow managed to bring the ship back to Port Blair in danger.
Now the ship is sailing on Tuesday and one wonder how safe it will be to carry passengers in the ship.
When questioned the Director Shipping, Capt Rajinder Kumar about this issue, he replied through an SMS that the hole was developed when the ship going alongside at Kolkata and the hole is well above the water line.
“The vessel is perfectly safe. The Surveyor has inspected and cleared the vessel with temporary repairs. Permanent repairs will be undertaken during the ship’s next voyage to Chennai,” Capt Rajinder Kumar added.

PORT BLAIR: Strongly opposing the allegations levelled in the local media on malpractices in the recruitment of LDCs in the Naval Component Unit, the Andaman and Nicobar Command claimed that the process has been fair and transparent. A total of 5807 call letters were forwarded by registered post to the eligible candidates, based on scrutiny by Board of Officers of the applications received till the last date. The candidates appearing for the written exam were divided into two groups and were allotted two schools (KV II and NCS) in two batches. The first batch of candidates was asked to report at 0700 h and the second batch to report at 1000 h on 30 Aug 15 for the written exam. The conduct of the written exam was undertaken by a separate Board of Officers.
On receipt of call letters, several candidates including those hailing from remote areas of Andaman & Nicobar Islands telephonically conveyed their inability to make two / three trips to Port Blair for the recruitment purpose. Similar requests were received from the candidates from Main land and North east states. Hence all efforts were made to complete the written exam, interview and the type test formalities in the minimum possible timeframe, without compromising on the procedures and even at the cost of personal inconvenience of the organizers and administrative constraints.
Accordingly, evaluation of the answer sheets was carried out on 31 Aug and 01 Sep 15 by a different Board of Officers, the results of which were published in the Daily Telegrams and the official govt. web site on 02 Sep 15. The interview was conducted from 0900h to 2000 h on 03 Sep and 04 Sep 15 at ANCOCEE. The interview was conducted by a Board of Officers, consisting of civilian gazetted officers from the minority community and OBCs out of which one was an islander.
The entire process was transparent and all assistance was rendered to the candidates. Even duplicate hall tickets were issued to at least five candidates, who had lost the original Hall Tickets. It may be noted that almost 36 call letters/ hall tickets were returned by the postal authorities due to incorrect addresses furnished by the applicants or locked houses.
At no stage the candidates possessing higher education qualification than the basic qualification required for the post have been disqualified. Seven applications were received from the Ex-Service men whose category was not specified (U/R, OBC, SC or ST). Six out of these qualified in the written test. However, their names were not published after the written exam results, as they had separate horizontal reservation in any category for three posts. Later, names of the three ex-servicemen candidates out of the six who were interviewed were (roll no. 14LDC 3790 (OBC), 141dc 2512 (ST) and 141dc 1699 (UR)) were published on 07 Sep 15 in the Daily Telegrams and the official govt. web site.
The allegation of favouring candidates of a particular region are misplaced as among the 45 successful candidates after written test and interview, 24 belong to Andaman and Nicobar islands and 21 are from the mainland. While it is natural that unsuccessful candidates will feel aggrieved, we assure the public that the selection process for recruitment is totally fair and transparent, conducted as per rules and regulations of the Central Government, said Col Yogesh Sharma, Command PRO in the release.

Sarthak Kanjilal & Sanjith Das
Port Blair, Sept. 06: A man namely, Mr Tabrez Alam, a crew member of Cargo Ship, Bay Island died after falling into the sea at Haddo Jetty at around 05:15 pm yesterday.
According to sources, Mr Tabrez Alam was working on one side of the ship standing on the stage plank.
Sources further said that at around 05:15 pm due to a strong wind Mr Tabrez lost the balance and fell into the sea.
It is learnt that at around 6:30 pm he was anyhow brought out from the water but because of drinking a lot of sea water, he died.
He was immediately rushed to the G B Pant Hospital, Port Blair.
Mr Tabrez Alam was only 20-21 years old and belonged to Patna District of Bihar.
Sources said that he got married just 2 months back. A post-mortem was conducted today afternoon and the body will be taken to his native by flight tomorrow, it is learnt.