Port Blair, Feb 05: The PCC President Kuldeep Rai Sharma and all leaders have deeply mourned the death of Mr Leslie Moses,78 years, r/o Mus Village who had represented Andaman and Nicobar Island’s football team in Durand cup, Subroto Cup and played against Mohanbagan team. He has left for heavenly abode on 4th February, 2014 The Party prays to Almighty for the eternal peace of the departed soul and strength to his family members.

 

Telecom regulator TRAI is working on a report for improving telecom services in Andaman and Nicobar Islands which will be released in next six months, TRAI chairman, Rahul Khullar said at an Assocham event.

”In six months we will come out with a report on how to improve telecom connectivity in Andaman and Nicobar region,” said the chief of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) while inaugurating a national summit on ‘IT & Mobile: Revolutionising Indian Banking-Enabling Financial Inclusion’ organised by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham).

He also said that TRAI had issued a regulation which mandates the telecom companies as of January 1st to provide the pipe connection to the NPCI (National Payments Council of India). ”Sometime later this month I will call them and find out exactly where they are and then they will get to know it’s consequences.”

”It is a national shame that today 41 per cent of our population and 46% of rural households do not have a bank account, while vast amounts of our population do not have access to loans,” said Khullar while highlighting that the banking sector has run abysmally short of achieving financial inclusion. ”The banking correspondent model has made some headway but it still has a long way to go”

Talking about financial inclusion, the TRAI chairman said that citizens in far-flung areas across the country should have the facility to be able to open an account remotely, check on their balance, deposit, withdraw and transfer money through phone without having to go to a nearby town or city to complete the transaction. ”It is these core, rudimentary services which need to be provided to achieve financial inclusion.”

”The problem with financial inclusion for over last three-four years has been that it tends to fall between the cracks i.e. is the two regulators,” said Khullar. ”When the telecom regulator and the central Bank regulator cannot get their act together then it is pointless to blame industry as in most societies where the financial inclusion has proceeded well it has taken the combined efforts of both regulators.”

”Data and security will be the two big issues/spinoffs in financial inclusion as we go ahead,” said Khullar. ”It is really concerning that India is at least 10 years behind the rest of the world in terms of data privacy and its protection, while security is a major concern in many of the financial transactions.” (Source: IRIS)

Port Blair, Feb 05: The Andaman and Nicobar Islands’ administration is in the process of putting in place an automated disaster alert system, in a bid to reduce delay in passing on information about approaching natural disasters.
The alert system would be connected directly to Hyderabad- based Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Andaman and Nicobar Lieutenant Governor Lt Gen (retd) A K Singh said on Wednesday.
“We will set up the automated disaster alert system here within a year or so. Once it is put in place the Island will be able to get signals on natural disasters directly from INCOIS,” Singh said.
Inaugurating Indian Navy’s ninth biennial international naval exercise MILAN 2014 here, he said the armed forces’ presence in the Island is vital in reconstruction of the town, post disasters.
Listing out natural disasters which the Island had faced since 1881, Singh said that after the signals were received, authorities would swing into action and evacuate the vulnerable people to save their lives.
He said the system would help avert the delay caused due to bureaucratic hierarchies in urgent situations.
Admiral D K Joshi, Chief of Naval Staff emphasized the coordination required between different navies while engaged in rescue operations just after a natural disaster.
“This common challenge (natural disasters) also requires co-operation between our nations and navies, to mitigate losses and improve disaster management, as brought out in our collective experiences of Tsunamis and cyclones in the past,” Joshi said. A total of 17 navies in the Indian Ocean Region are participating in the five-day event.

Clearance Diving Unit conducts Salvage operation in two phases

Port Blair, Feb 04: The ill-fated boat, MV Aqua Marine which met with a tragic accident on 26 January 14, and subsequently sank was salvaged by the Andaman and Nicobar Command on 03 February 2014.

Acting promptly on a request received from the local administration for salvaging the sunken boat to progress the magisterial inquiry into the accident, the Clearance Diving Unit (CDU) under the Naval Component of the Andaman and Nicobar Command was pressed into immediate action. Since the boat was at a depth of 25 metres,and nearly 600 metres from the shore, the salvage operations involved detailed planning and extensive preparations.

The CDU began the operation at first light on 02 February 14. The salvage was carried out in two-phases. The first phase involved the difficult task of lifting the boat from a depth of 25 metres close to water surface and the second phase involved preparing it for being towed to shore.
“Deep Sea Lift Bags” were used for first phase of salvage. The bags are specialised inflatable balloons that can support weights upto 10 tons. Three such bags were firmly attached to the sunk boat by divers who had to operate for long hours in depths of 25 metres to achieve this successfully.

The boat was then gradually floated and raised to three metres below the surface of the water. It was then painstakingly towed closer to the shore. This task had to be carried very meticulously as any drastic movement could uproot the bags and sink the boat,thereby causing loss of crucial evidence.

The boat was successfully brought to a depth of seven metres, before suspending the operations due to poor light and falling tide on 02 February 14. The salvage recommenced next morning and the second phase of operations was put into action.

The boat was attached with specialised “Enclosed Salvage Bags” suited for shallow waters operations. The boat was floated up 2-3 metres below the water surface, and thereafter carefully towed closer to the shore till very shallow depths, and finally beached about 50 metres from the shore. The operation was completed by 1100 hours on 03 February 14.

The CDU was able to achieve this extremely difficult and intricate task in a little over fifteen hours. The successful and swift manner in which the salvage operations were carried out by the Andaman and Nicobar Command, yet again reflects the promptness, flexibility and resoluteness of the Armed Forces. Andaman and Nicobar Command had earlier responded immediately on receiving news of the accident on 26 January 14, and despatched their Naval Fast Interceptor Craft and the Clearance Diving Team along with a Chetak helicopter and an Inshore Patrol Vessel of the Indian Coast Guard for the search and rescue operations.

The boat is an important evidence in the ongoing investigation, and its recovery will significantly help to determine the cause of the tragedy.

Port Blair, Feb 04: The PCC President Kuldeep Rai Sharma has also taken up the issue related to workers of Directorate of CS and CA in detail with the Union Home Minister Mr Shushil Kumar Shinde during his recent meeting with him and submitted that a proposal for creation of 69 supernumerary posts of Mazdoors has been sent to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution for sanction by the AN Administration. Submitting the copy of the latest correspondence bearing reference No.SD/2-106/Estt./2013(PF)/1567 dated 30.10.2013 done by the A & N Administration with the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Kuldeep has requested the Minister that the Ministry of Home Affairs being the Nodal Ministry in respect of the UT Administration of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, he may kindly bestow his personal attention so that the matter of creation of 69 supernumerary posts of the Mazdoors in the Directorate of Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs of A&N Administration gets expeditiously resolved and created for the welfare and future of the workers.

Port Blair, Feb 04: A Triathlon Competition will be held on 06 February for participants of MILAN 2014. The Triathlon competition is being held for the first time in MILAN as sports unfailingly engender camaraderie and espirit-de-corps which also is the underlying aim of MILAN.

‘Triathlon’ is derived from the Greek words treis (three) and athlos (contest). Thus, a Triathlon has three disciplines consisting of swimming, cycling, running. These three segments are to be covered without a break.

The MILAN 2014 Triathlon Championship will commence at Ross Island with a swimming race. A distance of 1.2 km will be covered by the competitors and finish at the Aberdeen Jetty. The competitors will then do a cycling race of nearly 12 km from Aberdeen Jetty to Kamraj Nagar. The final segment of the Triathlon will be a cross-country race of over a distance of 4 kilometersfrom Kamraj Nagar to the Birchgunj Military Station. The event can be witnessed by the public between Aberdeen Jetty to Kamraj Nagar.

A Telegamescompetition will be held at the Birchgunj Military Station for personnel from the participating foreign ship on completion of the Triathlon. The Telegames are aimed at the fun aspects of games rather than a competitive aspect, and will consist of novel games kike ‘Goofy Stick’, ‘Passing the Water Balloon’ and ‘Three-Legged Race’.

Port Blair, Feb The Administration while submitting BE for the year 2013-14 to MHA/Ministry of Finance had projected the requirement of funds amounting to Rs. 2355.86 Cr. under the Plan Section and Rs. 1843. 18 Cr, under Non-Plan Section. As against the said requirement, the Govt. of India, Ministry of Finance had allocated an amount of Rs. 1862.49 Cr. under Plan Section and Rs. 1440.93 Cr, under Non Plan Section.

Subsequently, while submitting the RE, the Administration had projected the requirement of Rs. 1906.63 Cr. under the Plan Section and Rs. 2404.00 Cr. (including arrears payable to DGS&D amounting to Rs. 489.30 Cr.) under the Non-Plan Section. As against that, the Ministry of Finance, Govt. of India had allocated an amount of Rs 1520 Cr. under Plan Section and Rs. 1515.52 Cr, under Non-Plan Section. Thus a huge budgetary cut was imposed on the fund allocation to this UT: so much so that the Administration was not able to meet the essential requirement of the most critical sectors like Shipping and Power.

Since the amount allocated at the RE stage was too short to meet our requirements, accordingly, the matter was taken up by the Administration with Ministry of Finance at the level of Chief Secretary and Hon’ble LG. In this connection, the Hon’ble LG had called on Hon’ble Minister of Finance on 16.01.2014 and apprised him, inter-alia, of the acute shortage of funds being faced by the UT of A&N islands both under Plan and Non-Plan Sections. Hon’ble Minister of Finance having knowledge and affinity with A&N Islands appreciated the hardship being faced by the UT of A&N islands and accordingly approved allocation of additional fund amounting to Rs. 150.00 Cr. (i.e. Rs. 72.78 Cr under Non-Plan Section and Rs. 77.22 Cr. under Plan Section) for meeting the requirement of critical sectors viz. Shipping and Power Sectors.

Port Blair, Jan 30: As reported earlier, Andaman and Nicobar Command is to host the international naval event, MILAN 2014 in Port Blair from 03 to 09 February 2014. MILAN 2014 is the ninth edition in the MILAN series of multilateral naval engagements that was started by the Indian Navy in 1995, in consonance with the country’s ‘Look East Policy’ of strengthening friendly ties with the nations in the Bay of Bengal region and South East Asia. Seas are the common bond between these nations and have been used since times immemorial. As a natural outcome of these interaction the cultural ties and friendly relations also blossomed. There is abundant evidence of the strong bonds that have flourished since ancient times between India and these nations through the sea routes.In the 1990s, when India embarked on the ‘Look EastPolicy’ to revive our ties with neighbouring nations in the East, the Indian Navy became one of the natural contenders to promote this initiative. As a consequence, the Indian Navy conceptualisedthe MILAN event, with the underlying theme of ‘Friendship AcrosstheSeas’. The central location of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands made them the obvious choice for the Indian Navy to host this event. MILAN is the Hindi word for ‘Tryst’ or‘Meeting’, and was chosen as the title for this biennial gathering of naval and maritime forces from littoral countries of the regionand beyond.

The initial editions of MILAN were conducted by the erstwhile Fortress Commander Andaman and Nicobar or FORTAN, being the seniormost naval authority in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The first edition of MILAN saw participation of four neighbouring countries,i.e. Indonesia, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand,besides India. The next two editions in 1997 and 1999 saw the participation increaseto seven countries, with Bangladesh and Malaysia joining in. MILAN was not held in 2001 as the same year saw the Indian Navy hosting the first-ever International Fleet review in Mumbai.

Post Kargil,the growing strategic significance of the Islands led to the creation of India’s first Unified Theatre Command, the Andaman and Nicobar Command at Port Blair in October 2001. The Command has components of the Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Air Forceand the Indian Cost Guard placed under a single Commander-in-Chief, instead of the respective service heads. With its motto of ‘Victory Through Jointness’, the integrated character of the Andaman and Nicobar Command, enables it to orchestrate unified responses to challenges from any dimension.

After its raising in October 2001, the Andaman and Nicobar Command assumed the onus of conducting MILAN. The first edition of MILAN under the newly constituted Command was held in 2003, and saw the participation increase to eight countries. Australia and Myanmar were the new inclusions,while Bangladesh was unable to participate in MILAN 2003. MILAN 2005 was initially scheduled in February 2005. However, following the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami that devastated the region in December 2004, MILAN 2005 was postponed to 2007. Andaman and Nicobar Command embarked on a massive relief and rehabilitation programme in aid ofthe Islanders. Seeing the rapid progress and the brisk pace of rehabilitation, a bold decision was taken to advance MILAN to January 2006. Considering the massive scale of planning and co-ordination involved in preparation for the mega event, and the several constraints and limited resources within which the arrangements were to be undertaken, the task was an onerous challenge. However, with relentless efforts the event was successfully conducted in January 2006, thus underscoring the swift return to normalcy in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The participation in MILAN 2006 had also increased to eight foreign countries with Bangladesh rejoining the event after her brief absence in 2003. MILAN continued to bloom into a successful forum during the subsequent years. Thirteen countries participated in MILAN 2010 and the participation increased to fourteen countries in 2012.

Over the years, MILAN has burgeoned into an effective forum to address common concerns in the maritime domain as also to help forge co-operative initiatives. The biennial event has now become an eagerly awaited gathering of littoral nations to build friendship, strengthen cultural ties and foster mutual understanding between the participating nations. MILAN 2014 will be the largest ever gathering with the participation of sixteen countries.

Air Marshal PK Roy, PVSM, AVSM, VM, VSM, ADCCommander-in-Chief Andaman and Nicobar Command,along with senior officials of the Command carried out a comprehensive onsite review of the various preparatory arrangements at the Naval Jetty on 29 January 2014. The Naval Jetty will form the centerpiece for several activities of MILAN 2014, and will also berth many of the participating foreign ships. The jetty has been spruced up and presents a festive look in preparation for the international event.

Detailed programmefor the event will he published in all local newspapers and will be broadcast on Doordarshan, Port Blair. Our fellow Islanders are requested to attend and make the event a mega success.

Port Blair, Jan 28: The ACCI today conveyed gratitude to the Chairperson of PBMC, Mr. K Ganeshan and PBMC team of sanitary staffs for cleaning and packing of the dead bodies in the mortuary in a record time which enabled the Administration and ACCI to send the remains of the dead to their relatives on the mainland along with the survivors yesterday itself.
“Chamber eulogies you and all your employees who have been associated in this gigantic tasks,” Mr. G. Bhasker, President of ACCI said in a press release today.
ACCI also appreciated the sincere and timely efforts made by Mr. K Ganeshan and the Municipal Council for extending whole hearted support and cooperation for undertaking the rescue and relief operation under PBMC Chairperson’s personal supervision, which enabled the Administration to save the lives of 29 drowned persons by evacuating them to the GB Pant Hospital for immediate medical aid.