Port Blair, Jan 06: Mr. Bishnu Pada Ray, Member of Parliament had taken up the matter regarding social security benefits to workers of unorganized sector and their families with the A & N Administration vide letter dated 28/11/2011. Mr. Shakti Sinha, Chief Secretary, A & N Administration vide a letter dated 20/12/2011 has now informed Mr. Ray that a draft rules “Andaman & Nicobar Islands unorganized workers social security Rules 2011 have been prepared and will be notified shortly.”
It was further informed that the provision of social security benefits to this section of the society will be taken up through “A & N Social Security Board” proposed to be constituted under the rules The benefits can be provided the existing Central Govt Schemes or through plan schemes of UT Administration which are found more suitable for the unorganized workers. A new plan scheme would be proposed under 12th five year plan for the unorganized workers and put up to the Board when it is constituted, for its recommendations.

Port Blair, Jan 05: The Humane Touch, an NGO, today requested the Lt. Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands to initiate inquiry regarding the vehicles ferries purchased and which are not pressed into service as those vehicle ferries were unfit and un-seaworthy.
In a letter addressed to the Lt. Governor, the President of Humane Touch, Mr. K.P.Mohammed Younus pointed out that as far as the daily movement of people are concerned, the passenger traffic across the Bambooflat – Chatham sea route is by far the most busy and most frequented route in the whole of A&N Islands.
“According to a rough estimate, daily more than 14000 passengers including students, office goers, daily wage earners, patients, industrial workers and about a thousand vehicles comprising two wheelers, Auto rickshaw, four wheelers, cars etc commute between Bambooflat and Chatham availing vehicle ferry and passenger ferry boats operated by Directorate of Shipping Services (DSS), Mr. Younus mentioned in his letter.
He wrote that Port Blair, being the hub of all citizen centric services namely : the lone referral (GB Pant) Hospital, A&N Administration Secretariat, office of the Hon’ble LG/CS/Deputy Commissioner, Police Headquarters, Civil Courts, Directorates of various offices, Schools, Engineering/Degree Colleges, ITI, Business Establishments, Shops, Airport, Sea port and a whole lot of other public utility services, a good number of people form rural South Andaman i.e., Ferrar Gunj Tehsil area visits Port Blair every day through the sea route between Bambooflat and Chatham to avail these services.
“But the ferry services operated in the route surprisingly remains insufficient, irregular and inadequate both in terms of capacity and frequency as well. Every ferry, be it day or night, rain or sun, sails jam-packed with commuters huddled in every available space. Unable to bear with the erratic ferry services, commuters harped to agitation, filed complaints and even resorted to strikes. Local newspapers had highlighted the plight of the commuters quite a few times, but nothing could see improvement in ferry services causing dissent among the commuters,” he said.
According to Humane Touch, failure of DSS to solve the crisis could be attributed to purchase of boats which are either unfit for operation in island waters or capacity wise they are inadequate.
“The glaring example is two Ro-Ro type ferries (MV Afrabay and MV Karmatang) which are found tethered in Marine/Phoenix Bay jetties without plying. Further the promised induction of vehicle ferries on wet lease is not materializing. What is surprising is even after lapse of years the Ro-Ro type ferries failed to ply, no effort has been made to replace those blunders by appropriate ones. The result is commuters are facing immense hardships due to inadequate and inefficient ferry services. Despite this, it is learnt that Administration is arranging vehicle ferries for Floating restaurant during the ITF. This is being done at the peak of worst boat services during the last fortnight. This shows the apathy and indifference towards the sufferings of the ordinary citizens,” Mr. Younus added.
According to the President of Humane Touch the irony is nobody seems bothered. Commuters on an earlier occasion were promised that that DSS would station one responsible officer at each of the jetties to ensure ferries operate in time and at the time of exigencies they would respond to commuters demand and arrange appropriate ferry to clear stranded passenger’s vehicles etc. But till date, no one has been deployed to listen to the commuters.
“Under such compelling circumstances, we are left with no option but to request His Excellency, the Lt Governor to intervene into the matter and save the commuters from the harassment meted out to them at the hands of inadequate and inefficient ferry service. Further, we request you to initiate enquiries regarding the vehicles ferries purchased and which are not pressed into service due to reasons beyond our comprehension. The persons involved in such purchases causing losses to public exchequer must be brought to the book,” the Humane Touch president added.

Port Blair, Jan 05: In order to educate public and spread awareness about the road safety measures, the A & N Police, in association with Govt. Senior Secondary School, Bambooflat, organized a ‘Road Safety Walk’ on 04/01/2012 from Bambooflat jetty to GSSS, Bambooflat . About sixty students of Govt. Sr. Sec. School, Bambooflat along with Vice Principal, Shri. Ved Prakash Mishra and teachers of the school and several police personnel took part in the ” Walk for Road Safety”. It was organized as a part of “XXIII Road Safety Week” being observed by the A & N Police to create awareness amongst public to make the road safer for the users.

The Deputy Superintendent of Police, Middle Andaman, Shri. Vinit Kumar flagged off the’ Road Safety walk’ at the Bambooflat jetty in the presence of Vice Principal and teachers of Govt. Sr. Sec. School, Bambooflat and SHO PS Bambooflat. The children displayed road safety messages through banners and placards mentioning ” Speed thrills but kills”, ” Day and Night , obey traffic rules” Don’t be hell mate, wear helmet’ etc. The school children marched enthusiastically on the main road leading to Wimberlygunj starting from the Bambooflat jetty.