Open letter to Hon'ble Lt Governor

Open letter to His Excellency,
The Hon’ble Lt Governor, A&N Islands


Dear Sir
Hon’ble Lt. Governor, Prof. Jagdish Mukhi called on  the
Hon’ble Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways,
Shri Nitin Gadkari at New Delhi on September 13, 2017
While your Excellency was busy meeting important functionaries of the Central Government at the National Capital, a good number of residents in the capital town of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, governed by your goodself were chased, lathi charged, hit by water cannons and tear gas shells fired at them, right in front of your official residence - Raj Nivas at Port Blair. Their only fault, they sought to appraise their own Lt Governor about the problems faced by them due to prolonged, scheduled, unscheduled electric power cuts and poor condition of roads in the islands.  

Sir, during the past few months, the residents of South Andaman have been having a harrowing time dealing with scheduled and unscheduled load shedding forced on them to the extent of about 12 hours. Not only during the day and evening peak hours, load shedding is being exercised during odd hours in the night as well. It is this prolonged cut in electric supply and continued inaction of concerned officials to resolve the crisis situation that the islanders patience reached the tipping point. Consequently, a section decided to hit the road, protesting against the deteriorating condition of roads and erratic electric supply.

 The island territory of Andaman and Nicobar is governed by your Excellency, in the capacity as Lt Governor, as such the islanders have every right to approach your goodself with their problems. On 13 September, a section of the residents did exactly that. After enduring the inconvenience of prolonged load shedding for more than two months, they thought it is time to raise the matter before you, hence marched their way to your official residence - Raj Nivas at Port Blair. In your absence, the islanders were lathi charged, chased, hit by water cannons and tear gas shells fired at them, after reported stone pelting by unidentified persons.

The unprecedented crackdown on the islanders by enforcement agencies left a section of the unarmed civilians including women folks and a few from the enforcement agencies with minor injuries. High-handedness of the enforcement agencies did not stop there. As per news reports, as many as 11 youths have been arrested the following day from Diary Farm, while they reportedly went there to check the status of “Chakka jam” call given though social media platform against the crackdown on protestors the previous day.

While I condemn the act of violence on the part of the protestors, I cannot stop at that since equally deplorable has been the handling of the situation by concerned officials, which reportedly instigated a section of the peaceful assembly to turn violent. Also arrest of 11 youths, who have been exercising their democratic right, is nothing but high handed use of state machinery to instill fear among the residents. I therefore call your Excellency’s immediate attention towards the high handedness shown by enforcement agencies and request that the youths arrested from Diary Farm on 14 September be set free.

Sir, during your just concluded first year in office in these islands, your Excellency might have noticed, however compelling the situation be, islanders are generally peace loving and seldom raise their voice. Given your credentials, especially your Excellency’s long and illustrative career as a politician and law maker, meeting the needs and aspirations of a small population of about 4 lakhs is miniscule; a cake walk for a person of your stature. But the way the islanders, their needs and aspirations have been dealt with under your regime, in the recent past, deplorable is too soft a word to describe the state of affairs.

Those who follow social media posts would agree, there is large scale resentment in every quarter of life in the islands. Under such a testing time, Lathi charge, forcing water canons, firing tear gas shells on un-armed citizens, that too at the doorstep of their own Lt Governor and subsequent arrest of 11 youths who merely went to the Chakka jam site at Diary Farm the following day and the ugly discourse that followed in the social media has left me deeply disturbed.

Sir, islanders marched to your official residence since they believe their Lt Governor would listen to them and alleviate their problems. Good road infrastructure and un-interrupted power supply is a basic necessity and anyone asking for it certainly does not deserve brutality at the hands of the one ruling them.

Therefore, while condemning the high handedness of enforcement agencies, I request His Excellency, The Hon’ble Lt Governor, A&N Islands to kindly set free those youths arrested from Diary Farm and order an impartial inquiry into the entire episode, specifically the deteriorating power generation and frequent failure of electric transmission and distribution system, which led to public protest.

Thanking You
Yours faithfully

 Debkumar Bhadra
(A concerned citizen)

Comments

vbv said…
Rightly said sir
September 17, 2017 at 7:18 AM
Debkumar Bhadra said…
Deeply sadenned by the turn of events.
September 18, 2017 at 4:12 PM
Unknown said…
While I strongly condemned the high handedness by the police officials but this is not the first time that state of affairs has deteriorated in our islands. Long unscheduled power cuts & dilapidated conditions of the roads were there earlier too. I am not saying that it should persist. I am saying that we should actually catch the real persons behind the state of affairs such as the local contracters & bureaucrats. Moreover Mr Mukhi has only been in the office for a year. We must give him a bit more time. Many LGs came & looted our islands but we weren't that impatient then as we are now.
September 19, 2017 at 9:31 AM
Debkumar Bhadra said…
First of all let me make it clear that I have full faith and confidence on the incumbent Lt Governor. Secondly what is being said and shared in social/media circles, I neither subscribe nor agree with everything, in-fact I disagree more.

Point is the islands are administered by “Bureaucrats” headed by “Lt Governor” but the former (read bureaucrats) appear inaccessible and they have their own justification. Under such a circumstance only option is Lt Governor, unfortunately approach to his Excellency is guarded by armed men. Those who are able to cross the inhibition need to convince the same “Bureaucracy” before they could have an audience with the one governing them.

Earlier, there was apparent silence in public, that doesn’t mean there was nothing to say nor that the present generation has become impatient. Fact is earlier there was no way one could make its voice heard. With the advent of digital media and social networking sites public now has a platform where they could express themselves and they are making use of the available space.

I fully agree that the discourse sometimes sound impatient but then the public after a long spell of silence has just learnt to speak. I believe with time, the discourse would mature and a meaningful dialogue would ensure.

Extremely sorry for the long comment, but from your response you appear to be a reasonable person, hence took the liberty to elaborate. Hope you would pardon me considering the fact that I am also one among the islanders who is learning to say what need to be said.

Thank you very much for sharing your perspective on the issue. Let us all contribute towards having a meaningful dialogue on issues concerning our islands and its welfare.
September 19, 2017 at 12:37 PM
Unknown said…
I totally second your concerns. My limited point is that there seem to be a section of people who are being selectively impatient not only in port blair but also in other states of India. I too face the same problems as a local as you do. But the larger perspective is people are being selective in their uproar.
Not sympathising the police's action but as far as i got the info that they had to lathicharge after the mob started hurling stones. Correct me if I am wrong.
Yes i agree that we do need voices to raise our concerns. Otherwise the bureaucracy won't work.
At least the incumbent LG is not looting our islands like his predecessors did. We must allow him a bit more to prove his governance. Jai hind.
September 19, 2017 at 6:40 PM
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