Nishar Mohammed
Sri Vijaya Puram, Jun 11: Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Mr. D. Ayyappan, Secretary of the party’s Andaman & Nicobar State Organising Committee, launched a broadside against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government Today, charging it with “eleven years of failure” both nationally and across the Islands.
Addressing a press conference, Mr. Ayyappan accused the Centre of deepening corruption, eroding communal harmony, and presiding over a collapse in essential services from power to health care.
Opening his remarks, Mr. Ayyappan claimed that elements linked to the Sangh Parivar were attempting to disrupt the archipelago’s long-standing communal harmony. “Andaman and Nicobar is home to every faith and language; no one should be allowed to divide our people,” he said, urging residents to reject sectarian appeals. He warned that “powerful forces” were sowing distrust in a region historically known for peaceful coexistence.
The CPI(M) leader dedicated a major portion of his briefing to the ongoing investigation at the Andaman & Nicobar State Cooperative Bank. Describing the probe as “half-hearted,” he argued that a local IAS-led inquiry would never unearth the full scale of wrongdoing. Ayyappan pressed for the Enforcement Directorate or Central Bureau of Investigation to step in, noting that the bank’s non-performing assets exceeded ₹430 crore across 17 South Andaman branches.
Mr. Ayyappan alleged that nearly every sector of the Islands’ administration had deteriorated over the past decade. In the electricity department, he said, recurring blackouts proved that a population of just 250,000 “still cannot be supplied with reliable power.” Water shortages are equally dire, with many neighbourhoods receiving piped supply only every four or five days, he added.
Turning to the National Highway-4 upgrade, the CPI(M) leader labelled the project “the single biggest symbol of the Modi government’s failure here,” accusing the National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL) of cost overruns and poor workmanship that left stretches impassable during monsoon landslides. Rural roads, he claimed, are no better: “Outside the VIP corridors near Raj Niwas, you cannot find a single motorable stretch after heavy rain.”
On public health, Mr. Ayyappan said the decade-old Andaman Medical College still operates on “temporary staffing, ad-hoc contracts and bare-bone infrastructure,” with permanent faculty positions unfilled. District hospitals are “over-crowded, under-staffed, and out of medicine,” forcing patients to lie on sheets on the floor. The national Ayushman Bharat insurance scheme, he argued, offers little relief. “For a poor islander who must spend Rs.400–Rs.500 on travel just to reach a mainland hospital, cashless treatment is meaningless.”
Public education faces a similar crisis, he added, citing vacant principal posts, dwindling enrolments and neglected infrastructure. He criticised plans to convert some degree colleges into an “autonomous society-run university,” warning that fees would rise and academic quality suffer.
Mr. Ayyappan reserved special criticism for the maritime sector. He noted that two 1,200-passenger vessels, MV Atal and MV Ashoka, ordered in 2016 to bolster Chennai and Kolkata routes, were effectively shelved in 2022. Their cancellation, he said, deprived the territory of affordable sea links and at least 250 direct jobs. Existing ships such as MV Swaraj Dweep are ageing, while ticket prices on limited voyages have soared beyond the reach of ordinary residents. He also demanded greater transparency on the proposed Rs.76,000-crore trans-shipment hub at Great Nicobar, questioning its environmental impact and alleging that “hand-picked corporates” may ultimately control the project.
Accusing the Centre of pushing “blanket privatisation,” Mr. Ayyappan said the administration is steadily outsourcing permanent posts, undermining job security and wage protections. He cited the unresolved plight of “work-charged” employees whose regularisation proposal was recently rejected by the Home Ministry. Existing labour laws are “ignored or diluted,” he claimed, with contractors flouting minimum-wage norms.
Concluding, the CPI(M) leader urged islanders to resist communal polarisation and demand accountability. “From rising corruption to collapsing services, the past 11 years have been disastrous for Andaman and Nicobar,” he said. “Our struggle is to restore integrity, protect public sector jobs, and ensure that basic amenities like water, power, health and education are treated as rights, not privileges.”
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