Serendipity : Musings of an Islander

At the outset I extend hearty welcome to Manyavar Nitin Gadkari jee, Hon’ble Minister of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways. I am extremely delighted to know, starting 14 February, 2015 your goodself is going to spare four valuable days reviewing functioning of various departments and projects being undertaken for development of these islands. Sir, since your goodself is holding the Shipping portfolio, and that you chose to address a public meeting at Bambooflat, I consider it worth appraising your goodself about a couple of key issues concerning a large section of rural South Andaman and seek settlement of those long pending issues with your kind intervention. MV Afra Bay and MV Karmatang, two Roll on/off ferries commissioned on January 27, 2009 to cater to the commuting needs of the islands failed to operate due to faulty mechanism/design etc. Sir, as the news of your visit to the Andaman and Nicobar islands broke in the local media, among other things, ferry service ...

Port Blair, the capital city is the hub of all citizen centric services namely : the lone referral ( GB P ant) H ospital, A&N A dministration S ecretariat, office of the H on’ble LG/CS/D eputy C ommissioner, P olice H eadquarters, C ivil C ourts, D irectorates of various offices, S chools, E ngineering/ D egree C olleges, ITI, B usiness E stablishments, S hops, A irport, Seaport  and a whole lot of other public utility services. To avail of these services, a good number of peoples from rural S outh A ndaman i.e., F errar G anj T ehsil, the second most populous tehsil in ANI, visits P ort B lair every day through the sea route availing vehicle ferry service between B ambooflat and C hatham. According to a rough estimate approximately 14000 passengers including students, office goers, daily wage earners, patients, industrial workers and about a thousand vehicles comprising 2 wheelers , A uto rickshaw , 4 wheelers, cars etc depend on vehicle ferry and or passenger ferry boats ope...