DJ Venkatesh
Port Blair, June 27: Finally after two long months of wait the passenger ship MV Coral Queen was inducted by the Lt. Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands on Monday.
After former induction the Lt. Governor himself visited the ship and appreciated the facilities available onboard for the passengers.
No doubt, even when this ship is chartered, induction of a ship for Nicobar District will make life of thousands of people living in Nicobar District a little easy. Especially when the weekly fight to Car Nicobar has already been suspended, ship is the only mean of travel in Nicobar District. Although there are helicopter services but the service couldn’t ever serve common man.
The Lt. Governor was so much impressed with the ship that in the visitors’ dairy he wrote “Coral Queen the ship being started today is one of the best ships I have travelled. I wish the ship shall serve the Islanders in good way and with good facilities. I wish the great success for the ship and the passengers”.
However the lone Member of Parliament of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Mr. Bishnu Pada Ray, was unhappy for some reasons. Firstly he did not accompany the Lt. Governor during the ship visit. He preferred to visit the ship with PBMC councillors and the Chairperson of PBMC as well as Chairperson of South Andaman Zilla Parishad.
Expressing his discontent, he said that on one hand Prime Minister Modi is trying to double the income of farmers of India on the other hand the income of farmers is in negative trend.
He said that farmers of Little Andaman can only transport their produce via ship to Port Blair or Nicobar Group of Islands but in this new ship there is no proper storage for vegetables.
“The temperature inside the Cargo area is so high that if farmers keep vegetables inside it, the vegetables will turn yellow from green within half an hour. There is no other area for keeping vegetables in the ship and hence farmers of Little Andaman will not be able to transport their produces in this ship,” the MP said.
Targeting Administration the Member of Parliament said that while finalizing the ship the Administration didn’t even consider taking opinion of public representatives and elected PRI members of South Andaman or Nicobar District.
The MP also demanded that the Administration should make the financial details regarding taking the ship in lease, to public as the money being paid to the Shipping Company is actually Tax-payers’ money.

Sarthak Kanjilal
Port Blair, June 27: Landslides and fallen trees on Andaman Trunk Road connecting North & Middle Andaman, disrupted traffic flow yesterday but no untoward incident was reported.
There was major landslide at Jirkatang 09 Number area affecting smooth traffic flow for a long time. The police controlled the traffic for a long time and allowed only Light Motor Vehicle for some time yesterday.
The road users were also warned to be alert regarding land sliding in view of the incessant rainfall in the UT.
As per general public, the NHIDCL is taking a lot of time for doing any minor or major repairs in the ATR, being the new authority to look after ATR. The General Public alleged that the APWD is also not helping the new construction authority to repair the most important ATR road for public.
Last year also atleast in two different occasions land sliding was reported from Jirkatang 09 Number area but because of lack of seriousness from the side of APWD or NHIDCL the road stretch at Jirkatang 09 Number area was not repaired properly, which properly led to present condition of ATR.
Talking to Andaman Sheekha, the SDPO Bambooflat, Mr Nausad said that Police is managing all sort of things at ATR and just because of fallen trees and some major landslides at ATR the traffic was disrupted till 04:00pm yesterday.

On 20th June 2017 it was announced in the Pradeshik Samachar that the A& N administration has decided to withdraw ban on consumption of tobacco leaves ( Sukha Patti ) , mostly used by manual labourers in rural areas. In India mostly Hindi belt rural people use Sukha Patti called “Khaini”.
It is popular among people from Jharkhand living in rural Andaman . Earlier, the administration had banned all forms of tobacco which resulted in negative reaction among people habituated to Khaini especially manual labourers .Ultimately the local administration had to withdraw ban on consumption of tobbaco leaves. The local administration headed by Lt. Governor Shri Jagdish Mukhi has taken a wise and bold decision over ban on use of gutka and zarda in A & N Islands.
Highly addictive and a known carcinogen, it is the subject of much controversy in India. Before the ban, the consumption of gutka and Zarda ( in the form of Supari + zarda called Kagaj Pan ) was highest in A & N Islands in terms of population as well as quantity compared to other states in India.
The consumption of gutka and zarda is very common among all the age groups which has been the main cause of cancer of mouth, throat, lung, oesophagus, heart disease and many ailments. After gutka is consumed, it is generally spat onto a wall or at the ground causing red stain which is resistant to the elements and is a common feature in all the public places and buildings in these Islands.
Promoted as a mouth freshener, this mixture is a combination of 4000 chemicals of which atleast 40 are carcinogenic compounds. Earlier, different branded gutka and varieties of Zarda were available in all the markets at every corner of the islands.
But the implementation of ordinance on ban on these tobacco in these islands has brought a great relief to the general public who support Swacch Bharat Mission and also the families who are victims .The police authority and local officials have started search operations to implement this mission and make the islands free from Tobacco .But unfortunately , this mission of our Lt. Governor could not achieve100% success as few unscrupulous suppliers and pan shops are still selling Zarda Pan at a high rate . In some places, shop owners use Bidi tobacco in place of Zarda which is highly hazardous to health. Police dept. has to take strong action against these shopkeepers.
More efforts are needed on the part of authorities to make these Islands 100% tobacco free. Stringent laws such as heavy fines upto 50,000 and imprisonment varying from 3years to 10 years can only make this mission a success.

Port Blair, June 25: Together with rest of India, Andaman and Nicobar Islands will be celebrating Eid-ul-Fitr tomorrow in a grand way.
“Moon has been sighted at Nancowry this evening based on that the A & N Hilal Committee has declared that Eid will be celebrated tomorrow,” Mohd. H Jadwet, the Secretary of A & N Hilal Committee told Andaman Sheekha today.

Sarthak Kanjilal
Port Blair, June 23: Remote villagers who are coming to Port Blair all the way from different Islands just to make new Aadhar Card are facing tremendous hardship these days due to slow server of Aadhar registration in all India level.
For the people of entire Andaman & Nicobar Islands there is only one CSE counter, which is situated at Gandhi Market, Aberdeen Bazaar, Port Blair.
As per reports, large number of people reach in front of the CSE at Gandhi Market early morning everyday, just to go back to their respective lodges or villages totally disheartened after waiting for entire day.
Many those are from far flung islands, who have come to Port Blair to make the Aadhar Card for their child as it is mandatory for admission in Schools are waiting since last three days with a token number they were given recently.
Talking to Andaman Sheekha, a resident of Diglipur said that since last three days he is here with his daughter and has spent an amount of 6-7 thousand in this period but everyday he is asked to come the next day as the system is down or file is not opening.
“We want Aadhar Card soon because staying in Port Blair is too expensive for us,” said a resident of Havelock.
Earlier a non political organisation ‘Islanders Protection Forum’ in a letter demanded the administration to open up Permanent Enrolment Centres in every tehsil office of Andaman & Nicobar Islands which is not yet done letting the Islanders to face this kind of situation.
When Andaman Sheekha contacted the Deputy Director, Civil Supplies Department, Mr Sanjay Balan he said that till now the department has enrolled 3 lakh 92 thousand people of the islands and enrolment of the left out 4-5 thousand people will be completed soon.
“The Department with the help of IT Department is going to open up 12 Permanent Enrolment Centres till the end of this month in the entire Andaman & Nicobar Islands which will lead to an easy access for the people to make their Aadhar Card,” Mr Sanjay Balan said.
Further Talking to Andaman Sheekha, a senior officer of the IT Department said that the main server for Aadhar Card is down in the entire Country, which is the reason behind the present situation.
He said that the IT department is in constant touch in the mainland and are trying to sort out the problem.

Sarthak Kanjilal
Port Blair, June 23: Police in course of investigation of sexual harassment case, registered against the Divisional Forest Officer, Diglipur Division has recorded two statements under CRPC 164 to strengthen the case in their favour.
Talking to Andaman Sheekha over phone yesterday, the SP North & Middle Andaman, Mr Ingit Pratap Singh said that on investigation the victims said that they used to inform two of the office staffs about the behaviour of the DFO against them following which a session of questioning was done to both the staffs of the Diglipur Forest Department where they have agreed to record their statements.
With this the case against the absconding DFO has been made more strong by the Police making it impossible for the absconding DFO to get bail in coming future too.

Port Blair, June 23: While the Government of India is presently conducting a study to assess the feasibility of having different time zones within India, authorities in Andaman must conduct a study that how a different time zone will benefit Andaman. Most importantly do we actually need a different time zone?

In Andaman, most of the people are up by 5.30 am and till 8.30 am we waste three hours of Day Light and by evening 5.30 pm it is dark here and in many offices babus and HODs work till 6.30 pm to 7.00 pm, wasting electricity. If Andaman gets a different time zone, which is delayed by one hour, Andaman will be able to save a lot of energy.

As per a recent PTI report, the study on this matter came soon after Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu had asked for a separate time zone for India’s North East region.

The Gauhati High Court had, in March, dismissed a public interest litigation seeking directions to the Union government to have a separate time zone for the North East.

This is also not the first time a study has been done on having two different time zones in the country. In 2012, Dilip Ahuja and DP Sen Gupta from Bengaluru-based Indian Institute of Advance Studies had suggested that instead of two separate zones, the smarter thing to do would be to advance Indian Standard Time by half an hour. According to them, India would save 2.7 billion units of electricity every year by shifting the IST meridian eastward.

As of now, the country’s standard time is defined by the 82.5E longitude that passes through Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh. If it were to be advanced by half an hour, the defining longitude would be 90E near the Assam-Bengal border.

Sarthak Kanjilal
Port Blair, June 22: The Andaman & Nicobar Police is planning to appeal the High Court on 27th June, to declare the accused Divisional Forest Officer as a Proclaimed Offender, if he continues to remain absconding till 27th June, SP, N & M told Andaman Sheekha today.
As per reports, the ANP already took a Non Bailable Warrant from the court till 27th June and were asked to arrest the DFO and produce him in front of the Court on 27th June.
Talking to Andaman Sheekha, the Superintendent of Police, North & Middle Andaman, Mr Ingit Pratap Singh said that already a SIT has been constituted to trace out the accused, the team is already conducting raids in all suspicious places after getting information from local sources but the attempts till now has been failed.
“If we fail to arrest the accused till 27th June then we will definitely appeal the Court to declare the absconding DFO a Proclaimed Offender and will also prove the Court about the efforts, the ANP made to trace out the accused,” SP North Middle Andaman said.

Port Blair, June 22: The absconding Deputy Conservator of Forests, Mr. R Ajay Kumar has been placed under suspension with immediate effect. The Lt Governor A&N Islands, had already approved the suspension of the said DFO, on June 15, 2017 itself. The order for his suspension has also been approved by the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change, New Delhi. Five FIRs of sexual harassment against the said DFO were lodged by five ladies of Diglipur Forest Division earlier this month.

The Police had issued a non bail able arrest warrant against him. Though the accused got an anticipatory bail, his bail plea, was rejected by District & Sessions Court on June 16, 2017.

Police sources have informed that on 08/06/2017 a case vide Cr. No. 73/17 dt. 08/06/2017 U/s 354 IPC was registered at PS Diglipur against Sh. R. Ajay Kumar, DFO Diglipur on the complaint of one female Regular Mazdoor of the Forest Department, Diglipur. Further, on 12/06/2017 four more cases viz. 75, 76, 77 and 78 were also registered against him on the basis of more complaints received from the female forest staff posted at Diglipur.

Soon after the registration of the first case, the alleged DFO Diglipur, Mr. R Ajay Kumar absconded from Diglipur in order to evade his arrest and did not cooperate with the investigating agency.

The Hon’ble court also ordered him to cooperate with the investigating agency till the hearing of his bail petition but he failed to comply with the said orders. His bail petition was finally rejected due to sustained efforts by the Police authorities.

A special Police team under SP N&M comprising of SDPO Rangat, SHO PS Diglipur, Aberdeen, Pahargaon, CCS and other members has been constituted to search and locate the alleged absconding DFO. Raids on all his possible hideouts are being carried out across the Islands. All possible sources have been activated to trace his whereabouts. The Police teams are active round the clock to ensure that the absconder is apprehended shortly.