Rabindranath Biswas
Diglipur, Dec. 30: The general public of Diglipur and stakeholders, dealing in landed property, have raised the issue of E-Stamp. According to them, although registration of land has resumed in Diglipur and elsewhere in N & M Andaman District, the constraints they have been facing in the procurement of ‘e-stamp’ of higher value/denomination from the Canara Bank, Port Blair is quite troublesome.

“In fact, we have to face an untold hassle to obtain the instrument. We have to go to Port Blair to obtain the e-stamp from the sole financial institute Canara Bank issuing these e-stamps,” a resident of Diglipur told Andaman Sheekha today.

It takes about a week to process and get the stamps from this lone bank, they alleged. They further bemoaned that, staying a week in Port Blair is reasonably unaffordable for many of them as it involves a high expenditure.

Besides, though restrictions on movement in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic situation considerably eased, it is not feasible to make movement to Port Blair for a single cause, they further argued.

As per report, in wake of this problem, stakeholders have decided to write to the Deputy Commissioner, N & M Andaman, Mayabunder for her intervention into the matter and an early redressal to it.

They said that if the arrangement of issuance of these e-stamp papers is done from Canara Bank, Diglipur Branch, the cited problems being faced by them can be eliminated, they believe.

For this to implement, the extension of one more counter (to be equipped with the technical facilities) of the bank issuing e-stamps or with another option- that the necessary filled-in forms may be submitted at Canara Bank, Diglipur Branch by the stakeholders and after due process, the e-stamps may be dispensed to the applicant at the Diglipur Branch itself by the banking staff, they suggested.

Trinath & Savita Kumari
Port Blair, Dec 09: Mrs. Anjali Sehrawat, IAS, Deputy Commissioner of North and Middle Andaman today informed media that under direction of Chief Secretary of Andaman and Nicobar Administration several steps have been taken by the District Administration, NMA to ensure the quality of NH4 is maintained and grievances of public related to the condition of ATR is addressed.
Talking to media, the DPort Blair, Dec 09: The protest by the Baratang Tourist Fiber Boat Owners Association (BTFBOA) being staged at Baratang Jetty completed its fifth day today but till now the Administration has failed to find any solution to this issue.
Fighting for some genuine demands, the BTFBOA has been demanding to reinstate the Convoys between Jirkatang & Middle Strait as it was before Covid-19 pandemic; removing limit of vehicles in each convoy, which is restricting tourist footfall in Baratang Island; Revoking the mandate of taking 1-day prior permission from concerned Deputy Commissioners of South and North & Middle Andaman; expediting the process for registration/renewal of our fiber boats; one-time Registration of Fiber Boat at DC Office Mayabunder; withdrawing berthing charges on discarded vessels; Two separate lines at Ferrargunj for Covid Test one for passengers with single vaccine dose and one for double dose and to conduct Covid test for Middle Andaman visit one day ago.
Earlier, the Assistant Commissioner of Rangat Mr. Piyush Vijaykaran Singh, DANICS, had reached Baratang Island and met with the boat operators of Baratang on 7th December. He had assured to take up this matter with DC North and Middle Andaman.
eputy Commissioner today said that some people have grievances and there were agitations regarding the condition of NH4 and considering the same some steps have been taken to fix responsibility of NHIDCL in this regard.
She said that instructions have been issued for taking video footage of the condition of NH4 and other than that presence of Assistant Commissioner has been made mandatory while lifting samples of NH4 by Central Road Research Institute.
Apart from this, for grievance redressal of the general public, the NH4, which has been divided into several packages by NHIDCL authorities, the mobile numbers of concerned site engineers and authority engineers have been taken, which will be soon published.
With the help of these numbers, everyone can register their complaints and according to the contract file, the NHIDCL contractors have to solve these complaints, registered by the general public, within 24 to 72 hours.
“I hope that with these steps, taken by Administration, the accountability will be fixed”, she added.

Rabindranath Biswas
Diglipur, Nov. 23: There is no respite from the wrath of the sporadic and undesirable rain these days in Diglipur. In fact, it has become a headache and troublesome for the farmers and poor peasants. The untimely and ruthless rain has wreaked havoc especially on fully ripe paddy in the fields of the paddy growers. The farmers haven’t been able to garner or harvest the ripe paddy due to this unseasonable and unheralded rain. Trail of devastating damage of ripe paddy can be seen as it is still lying in the field. The gusty rain had laid the ripe paddy on the bed of the field and even the paddy has started sprouting again at the field itself.

Similarly, vegetable farmers who sowed seeds and seedlings have sustained severe loss; every time they sow the seeds, the seeds start sprouting and when they start growing the unpredicted rain damages the seedlings at their budding stage, bemoaned a farmer.

On the other hand, there is a huge crisis of vegetables created in the market as the production is being severely affected at the farm/field by this rain. As a result, the price of vegetables has skyrocketed while people with no choice are forced to dig into their pockets.

Meanwhile, voice has already been raised from different political platforms with the plea to the administration to assess the extent of damage of paddy and other crops due to this untimely rain and extend possible compenstion to the affected farmers, a source said.

Rabindranath Biswas
Diglipur, Nov. 12: Contractors working under PRI, Diglipur are facing great difficulties due to absence of the AE (PRI) since 25/10/2021. An FIR was lodged in Police Station, Diglipur against the AE, PRI, Diglipur on 25th Oct. 2021 and since then the whereabouts of the AE is unknown, they alleged.

Numerous bills are pending on AE’s table and all most all the running works are stopped as material testing is not possible in absence of the said AE, the contractors revealed. The contractors further said that they are not in a position to execute the works below ground level and all sorts of reinforcement and works below ground level including building foundations are not seeable after execution and because of this fact; they are not being allowed to execute such works.

Expressing their bitter resentment towards this apathy of the PRI, these contractors said, “we have already sustained severe losses during the last one and half year owing to COVID-19 pandemic situation, and now this sort of undesired thwart in the works and non-payment of bills are really unfortunate and tenable”.

These contractors have shot a letter to The Secretary (RD/Panch/PRI), Secretariat, A & N Administration, Port Blair apprising the issues and urging the authority to post an AE for PRI, Diglipur on priority so as to do away with the prevailing stalemate; and until the incumbent assumes the Office, a Senior most Junior Engineer may be ordered to act in an AE’s capacity was another plea from the contractors to the Secretary, they said.

On the other hand, DRMs and other staff of this PRI, Diglipur are plagued with their salary problem since Oct. 2021 in wake of the lodging of the case against the AE, PRI, Diglipur. Talking to the Andaman Sheekha, the DRMs of the PRI, Diglipur revealed that they haven’t been paid with their last month’s salary yet while another fortnight is going to elapse. An early dispensation in this respect, will be an instant relief to their woes, they also added.