Sri Vijaya Puram, May 06: CPI (M) Andaman & Nicobar State Organising Committee has organised a Mass Demonstration today (6.5.2025) in front of the DSS Gate at Port Blair (Sri Vijaya Puram) to protest against the central government’s failure to resolve the shipping issues in the islands and with the demand to arrange ship tickets to all the intending passengers or to introduce chartered flights during this peak summer vacation season. Party has also demanded acquisition of more ships for inter-island services.
Inaugurating the mass demonstration, D. Ayyappan, Secretary, CPI (M) A & N State Organising Committee vehemently criticized the BJP-led government at the centre for the non-availability of passenger ships in the islands. He said that the lone mainland-bound passenger ship m.v. Swarajdweep has not been made available during this summer vacation as the ship is at drydock for annual survey. He said that construction of two ships of 1200 passenger capacity in the Cochin Shipyard for the Andaman & Nicobar Administration have been stopped by the central government despite the Administration spending hundreds of crores of rupees for the purpose. Due to these reasons, the general public in the islands are facing difficulty to get ship tickets for proceeding to mainland. He said that flight tickets in the island-mainland sectors are very high and the government has no control over the private airlines.
Addressing the gathering B. Chandrachoodan, CPI(M) State Secretariat Member came down heavily on the central government for its all-round failure in resolving the problems confronted by the islanders. SP Kalairajan, State Organising Committee Member, senior leader P. Banerjee and NKPNair, Port Blair Area Committee Member also addressed the gathering.
The mass demonstration was led by D. Laxman Rao and P. Sathyapal, State Secretariat Members of the party. R. Surendran Pillai, President, CITU was also present. A large number of party leaders and workers participated in the mass demonstration.
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