Staff Correspondent

Port Blair, Dec 28: The confusion over the fate of Andaman Trunk Road, the life line of North and Middle Andaman Islands has deepened in Andaman following statements and counter statements made by political leaders and the Administration.

The Andaman and Nicobar Administration on Monday came out with an official release to counter the claims made by the lone Member of Parliament, Mr. Bishu Pada Ray recently.

Ray during the press conference had told media that Administration is seriously working on opening alternative route to Baratang Island, which is an indication that soon the Andaman Trunk Roadwill be closed.

To refute this claim the Administration in its official clarification mentioned that “It has come to the notice that misinformation about closure ofAndaman Trunk Roadby opening of sea route to Baratang which is proposed as alternative route by the Administration to Govt. of India, is being circulated. This is not at all correct as the Administration has submitted a proposal to the Govt. of India for opening up an alternative sea route to Baratang as per the Jarawa Policy of 2004 to reduce traffic on ATR and not to close it.”

“The Administration is looking at re-opening the sea route toBaratangIslandas an alternative/additional route to connect this Island with Port Blair, similar to Rangat or Mayabunder, which also have ferry services in addition to the road connectivity. The general public is requested not to give heed to such misquoted communications, as ATR remains the life line for Middle and North Andamans,” Mr. Som Naidu, the Director of Tribal Welfare Department said in his official release.

However, the statement failed to convince public and other political parties.

Hitting back at Administration the Bharatiya Janta Party today urged the Administration to present the real picture on the issue so that all the ‘misleading news’ are nullified.

“We had repeatedly requested the Administration to make public about the orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court. We had also urged to make public the actual area under the Buffer Zone so that people can understand which areas are coming under this zone,” Haridas Chattopadhyay, the Media Officer of Bharatiya Janta Party’s A & N Unit told ‘Express’ today.

The media officer of BJP added that instead of pointing out of any such so called misleading news, the Administration must clear its stand on the Buffer zone issue with the orders of the Hon’ble court and the map of Buffer Zone areas.

Meanwhile, the Member of Parliament of Andaman andNicobar Islandshave also hit back at the Administration on this official clarification alleging that the A & N Administration is misleading the people of ourIslandson closure of ATR.

“Sea route already existed in routes Port Blair- Baratang- Kadamtala, Mayabunder-Parangara (Kishori nagar),MayabunderIsland– Hanspori andMayabunderIsland–Kalighat but all these sea routes were arbitrarily closed down by the Administration. If alternate sea route is opened form Port Blair to Baratang by closing down the ATR by the Administration, majority of the people would not want to travel by such sea route on various reasons which are also known to the Administration. The people ofIslands, the business community, the political parties, the PRI members and the Member of Parliament have never demanded to either close down the ATR or the Traditional Baratang sea route,” Mr. B P Ray informed media today.

The MP also said that his claims were based on evidences, which can be verified by public anytime.

Nearly 300 km long National Highway 223, also known asAndaman Trunk Roadconnects Port Blair with North and Middle Andaman and is being used by nearly 2500 local inhabitants and 2000 odd tourists, daily. Nearly 80 cargo trucks cross the ATR on daily basis and hence the ATR is called as life line of North and Middle Andaman.

In 2002 the Supreme Court had ordered closure of this ATR as the road runs through two stretches of Jarawa Tribal Reserve in South and Middle Andaman but because of tremendous pressure of Public the Administration kept the ATR open even today.

After implantation of Buffer Zone, a five km area aroundTribalReserveForest, public fear closure of ATR by Government of India.