VOL: 03 I ISSUE NO: 103 I REG NO: ANDENG/2011/38184 I 08 MAY 2014 I THURSDAY I Rs. 2.00 I DAILY I PORT BLAIR I www.andamansheekha.com

Review of key projects of ANIIDCOLG directs expeditious action on setting

up of petrol pumps at Mayabunder and HavelockPort Blair, May 07: The Lt.Governor had a detailedreview of the functioning ofANIIDCO on Tuesday. Apresentation was made to Lt.Governor by MD, ANIIDCOlisting out details of the workdone during the last financialyear as well as proposals forthe current financial year.

The Lt. Governordirected expeditious actionon setting up of petrol pumpsat Mayabunder and Havelockand also directed ANIIDCO

to take up with IOC forallotment of one petrol pumpin Port Blair, under Ex-serviceman category in lieu ofde-reservation forMayabunder petrol pump.

He further directedthat efforts should be made toincrease the milkprocurement from North &Middle Andaman so as toutilize the full capacity of themilk processing plant at DairyFarm. Besides, handicraftsand souvenir shop should be

opened at the departurelounge by IndustriesDepartment and souvenirs ofANIIDCO to be also madeavailable in this shop.

The Lt. Governoralso reviewed the progress onthe beach resort projects atHavelock, Long Island andNeil Island. He was apprisedthat CRZ clearances for beachresort projects at Havelockand Long Island have beenobtained while CRZ

Functioning of Health Department reviewedLG directs Health Department

to take help of Defence Ministryfor recruitment of Specialists

Port Blair, May 07: A meetingwas convened by the Lt.Governor on 5th May 2014 atRaj Niwas, wherein the ChiefSecretary, Secretary (Health),DHS, Consultant (MedicalCollege) and OSD (MedicalCollege) were present.

The Director ofHealth Services gave a PowerPoint Presentation on all theactivities of HealthDepartment undertakenduring the year 2013-14 andon the new initiativesproposed to be taken during2014-15. After discussions,the LG directed Secretary

(Health) and DHS to work-out a proposal immediatelyfor taking the support of theDefence Ministry forrecruitment of Specialist onbehalf of A&NAdministration andallotment of certain numbersof PG seats in the DefenceInstitutions for the in-serviceGDMOs of A&NAdministration.

Consultant (MedicalCollege) Maj. General Duttaapprised LG on the progressmade so far on setting up ofthe medical college at Port

(See page 2) (See page 8)

Will Lt. Governor intervene into this matter?

Dark Days Continues inMayabunder Area; Public

Demonstrate on road

Mayabunder, May 07:Power cut in Mayabunderarea has become inincreasing source ofdiscomfort for the Islandersin these hot and humiddays. Situation is so bad thatpeople now comes out onroad in groups and shoutsslogans, to express theiranger. Of course suchslogans never reach to theears of responsibleauthorities.

I n d i s c r i m i n a t epower cut is badly affectingthe vegetable venders,f ishermen and otherbusinessmen, who are

struggling to keep their saiditems cool in Refrigerators,Deep freezers. They aresustaining heavy losses and

ultimately the burden ofsuch losses falls on commonman of Mayabunder region.

Sheekha News ServiceMuralidharan Pillai

(See page 8)

Shocking but true: NowPGTs will teach in Port

Blair’s New Degree College

Port Blair, May 07: Believeit or not, the Andaman andNicobar Administrationhas prepared a list of PostGraduate Teachers, whowill teach College Studentsin New Degree College,which will temporarilyfunction from HaddoSchool.

On Jan 26, 2014,when a helper operated atourist boat, 22 people diednear North Bay Island andnow one can imagine whenPGTs will teach degree levelstudents, what will happento the students.

Secretly messages

Staff CorrespondentSheekha News Service

have been passed to theseselected PGTs and the list isalso ready. From nextsession these PGTs willwork as lecturers.

Andaman has seenin past many cases, whenschool teachers weretransferred to colleges ondiverted capacity, none ofthe teachers have even goneback to school. They eitherremained there forever usingpolitical power or by filing acase in court.

Here thosecandidates, who havecompleted their M.Phil andP.Hd are running from pillarto post for a job. Due toexcess number of such

(See page 7)

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MH 370 fallout: India makes realtime tracking of aircraft mandatory

NEW DELHI: Exactly twomonths after a Malaysia Air-lines' aircraft (MH 370) wentmissing, India has made itmandatory for all its planes tobe tracked from departure toarrival.

The directorate gen-eral of civil aviation's(DGCA) new rule is appli-cable to both for passengerand cargo aircraft "in view ofthe difficulties faced in searchand rescue operations afteran aircraft goes missing ormeets with an accident".

Malaysian ministryof transport's initial probe intoMH 370 that went missing onMarch 8 while on a scheduleflight from Kuala Lumpur toBeijing with 239 people onboard says that "the locationof wreckage is still unknowndue to the fact that there isno real time tracking of theaircraft." After this revelation,the DGCA decided to makereal time tracking mandatoryhere. "Air transport operatorshave now been asked to use

onboard aircraft communica-tions addressing and report-ing system (ACARS) /auto-matic dependent surveillance- broadcast (ADS-B) for thispurpose and they have to en-sure their serviceability be-fore every departure. Opera-tors have also been advisedto devise a procedure for ef-fective tracking of the aircraftwhile flying over areas wherethere is no coverage ofACARS/ADS-B," theDGCA rule says.

During the last fiveyears, there have been twooccasions when large com-

mercial transport aircraftswent missing and their lastposition was not accuratelyknown. While commercial airtransport aircrafts spend con-siderable amount of time op-erating over remote areas,there is currently no interna-tional requirement for realtime tracking of the aircraft.This uncertainty resulted indifficulty in locating the air-craft in a timely manner inboth the cases.

These incidents andthe recent Malaysian tragedyprompted the DGCA to takenecessary action.

Chennai twin blasts: Man seen runningin CCTV footage is no longer a suspect, police say

CHENNAI: A man who wasseen running in CCTV foot-age recorded just before thetwin blasts on Bangalore-Guwahati Express at ChennaiCentral railway station onMay 1 is no longer a suspect,CB-CID spokesperson anddeputy superintendent of po-lice K Venkatraman said onWednesday,

"We have traced the

'suspect' and he was ques-tioned. He is a genuine per-son. Police teams have ques-tioned him and he gave con-vincing reply to the investiga-tors," he said.

The man travelled onthe Bangalore-Guwahati Ex-press and he got down atChennai Central railwaystation.When asked why theman had run as soon as the

train reached Chennai Cen-tral, a CB-CID officer said,"The man gave a valid replyto us. Revealing more aboutthe man may tarnish the im-age of a genuine individual."

Police sources saidthe man worked at a privatecompany near Guindy. As hewas late to office, he ran. Hispurpose was to reach his of-fice in time, they added.

MOVING EYES.....

Plastic Brain…. ! (Pic: Muralidharan Pillai, Andaman Sheekha)

Blair. He presented a copy ofdraft DPR for the medicalcollege for review by variousDepartments, which wouldbe finalized and presentedafter necessarymodificat ions on26.05.2014.

The matter ofaffiliation of the proposedMedical College would betaken up with the Vice

Chancellor of PondicherryUniversity by the ChiefSecretary. The LG expressedhis concern over theprevalence of AndamanHaemorrhagic Fever(Leptospirosis) and directedthe DHS to make apresentation regarding thecurrent status of the diseasein collaboration withRegional Centre of ICMR.

Functioning of... (From page 1)

Election Commissionorders Priyanka Vadra’s secretary

to leave AmethiLUCKNOW: The ElectionCommission of India onWednesday ordered PreetiSahay — Priyanka GandhiVadra's secretary — to leaveAmethi following complaintsfiled by the Bharatiya JanataParty alleging that she wastrying to influence the votersin the parliamentary constitu-ency.

Speaking to TOI, dis-trict magistrate of Amethi,Jagat Raj Tripathi, said, "Onthe complaint of BJP candi-date Smriti Irani, Sahay wasasked to leave the constitu-ency as her presence wasagainst. Barring the candi-dates, election agents andexpenditure agents, all outsid-ers have been asked to leavethe constituency."

The DEO also said,"We have received a com-plaint from Irani. Prima facie,we found that both the per-sons were wrong in their ownplaces. While Sahay should

not have been inside the booth,Irani also misbehaved insidethe booth. Sahay has beenasked to leave the constitu-ency." The district magistrateof Amethi also informed thatSahay has agreed to leave theconstituency.

Irani and Priyanka'ssecretary had entered in averbal duel, as the formerobjected to her presence atone of the booths inJagdishpur area. Followingthe incident, BJP filed a com-plaint with the Election Com-mission on the presence ofSahay at a polling booth atThori village in Jagdishpur.

"When Irani reachedbooth number 210 and 211 atThori village in Jagdishpur vil-lage, she saw Sahay at thebooth. Irani asked her for thepass which she could not pro-duce. Sahay being an outsidershould not have entered thebooth," Ashok Patel, Irani'sPRO told reporters.

08.05.2014 Rs. 2.00 Andaman Sheekha Daily Port Blair 3

RO holds meeting with candidates/representatives

Counting of votes to begin at 8 AMat Girls’ School auditorium on May 16Port Blair, May 07: A meetingwas held in the conference hallof the District Office, SouthAndaman today with the con-testing candidates/ represen-tatives, which was chaired bythe Returning Officer, A & NIslands Parliamentary Con-stituency, Mr. P. Jawahar. TheReturning Officer informed all

present about the various ar-rangements at the countingcentre as well as the provi-sions with regard to count-ing of votes for the loneParliamentary Constituencyin this UT. The RO statedthat the counting of votesshall be taken up at thecounting centre i.e. the au-

ditorium of GSSS Girls’sharp at 8 am on May 16.Doubts raised by the partici-pants were also clarified.The RO sought the co-op-eration all concerned forsmooth conduct of thecounting process by follow-ing the provisions/guidelineslaid down by ECI.

SA District Administrationconducts encroachments eviction drive

Scheme for preservation ofvanishing and dying art forms

Port Blair, May 07: The Min-istry of Art and Culture, Govt.of India is implementing ascheme to preserve vanishingand dying art forms of India.Under the scheme financialassistance is provided toGurus having knowledgeand expertise of traditionalart forms or folk, classicaland tribal dance and music

which are considered asvanishing art forms.

In this context, theDepartment of Art Cultureinvites applications fromeligible Gurus in tribal artforms, with the aim to pre-serve dying art forms oftr ibal dance, music andcrafts of these islands.Theperiod of the scheme will

be for one year and it maybe extended to one moreyea r dep ending on t heart forms, In this regard,details can be obtainedover Phone No: 230117during 9.00 AM to 5.00PM on all working days.The last date of receiptof applica tions is 15thMay 2014.

Port Blair, May 07: As per thedirections of the Lt. Gover-nor, A & N Islands, a phaseby phase eviction drive in theSouth Andaman Districtbased on the survey under-taken by a committee spe-cially tasked for the purposeof eviction of encroachments.An exclusive encroachmenteviction drive was carried outat Wandoor beach by the Dis-

trict Administration along withthe support of PRI membersand general public of the areawherein reinforced wiredfencing was removed fromgovernment land.

One acre govern-ment land which was en-croached near the Wandoorbeach by way of barbed wirefencing was reclaimed byRevenue Authorities.

LOST LOSTI Mangar Tirkey, I havebeen lost my Islander Card,bearing Id No.10314102573001 in be-tween Rangat toPanchwati. If anyonefound it please contact mein this No. 9531811879.

I Smti Mangari Tirkey , Myexisting FIC bearing No.2007047544 has been lostby me on 30/04/2014 inbetween Rangat toPanchwati. If anyone findmy FIC call in this contactno. 9531811879.

LOSTI,Rupni Naik W/o TanislasEkka R/o Swadeshnagarhas lost my Island IdentityCard and SBI Saving Ac-count Pass Book No.20089521307 on 26/4/2014in between Swadeshnagarto Billyground Bazar.Finder may contact at9476066972.

I,Jagadish Halder s/o LateRajen Halder,a permanentresident of Rangat has lostmy LPG Account Book /pass Book vide P.R. No.A334653 on 26/04/2014in-between Swadeshnagarteachers Colony toBillyground Bazar. Findermay contact at 947005223.

LOST

Gift your mompearls this Mother's Day

NEW DELHI: This Mother'sDay, which is on May 11, giftyour mom a classic piece ofjewellery that not only addsto her beauty but also makesher feel really special. Indianjewellery brand Mirari hascome up with Pearl Perfec-tion that boasts of eternal el-egance inspired by beautifuloceans. "It encompasses chicpieces that live forever andthat any woman regardless ofage can wear out to any glam-orous occasion," said a state-ment. The designs are madein an array of pearls fromSouth Sea to Tahitian, Freshwater to Akoya pearls. The

collection is an amalgamationof multi-coloured pearl stringswith a mix of pink, golden,grey, white and creamy hues.

Throughout the pearlcollection, one will find the sig-nature Mirari trend of usingpear-shaped, flawless dia-monds set in feminine spheri-cal forms of multiple levels,ensuring that the diamonds sitperfectly on the skin andmatch the size and grandeurof the pearls.

So how about givingyour mom the gift of longev-ity, versatility and extremebeauty befitting the raw ma-terials.

4 08.05.2014 Rs. 2.00 Andaman Sheekha Daily Port Blair

08.05.2014 Daily Issue::103

EDITORIAL.....Medieval madness in election season

Election brings out the best and theworst in our politicians but for somecontenders it just brings out the truth.Take Mulayam Singh Yadav for in-stance. He is a former chief minister ofthe largest state in India — UttarPradesh (UP), home to 200 million In-dian citizens. He is still in chargethrough his son Akhilesh Yadav, nowthe chief minister, who came in as adarling of the media as an educated,dynamic young man who would pro-pel Uttar Pradesh into the 21st century.He had his work cut out for him as in2009 his father had openly made one ofhis medieval statements and fortu-nately, I have it on record.

In April 2009, The Times ofIndia published my article on MulayamSingh Yadav, under the headline"Luddite Netas", in which I criticizedthis 18th century-thinking politician oftaking India back to the dark ages. Hehad spoken out against computers andEnglish and declared that Hindi shouldbe the language of all Indians and En-glish was not important. The fact thathe sent his own children to English-medium schools shows how double-faced a politician who just caters tovote-bank politics can be.Now to thepresent election season whereMulayam, leader of the SamajwadiParty, has gone even further backwardin time by declaring before lakhs of hisvoters that "boys will be boys and makemistakes" and the punishment shouldnot be harsh. He was talking aboutrape. Worse, he was talking about thedeath penalty just given, by a majorcourt in India, to gang-rapists who wereserial offenders and had indulged in notjust rape but violent and bestial sexualacts against innocent girls and were to-tally remorseless in court. The mediabacklash was instant and critical, butsurprisingly Mulayam did not care!

For Mulayam's party nothingis sacred. His other political mates saythings like only Muslims troops wereresponsible for winning the Kargil waragainst Pakistan, which became a ma-jor divisive issue with the Army com-ing out to say that the Indian Armywas an apolitical, secular, professionalbody and he was denigrating almost70 years of service to India by bringingin religion.Yet again, another of his stal-

warts went on record to say that sexout of marriage was a criminal offenceand the women is such cases shouldbe severely punished according to hisMuslim religion diktats — this wouldmake poor Digvijaya Singh's girlfriendfeel rather vulnerable.It makes one won-der where such men were born andbred. I hope the Samajwadi Party real-izes that it is not in some nether regionof Pakistan where the Taliban rule butin India, which is currently goingthrough the largest election in theworld.Wise political commentators saythat Mulayam is an astute politician andhe would have thought through everyword he was about to utter to the sev-eral hundred thousand men that hadgathered to hear his speech. This iseven more scary. Is this man actuallytrying to appeal to the men in India togarner votes by saying boys will beboys and they will make mistakes byraping girls and they should not bepunished for it? Is he really playing tothe gallery and dumbing down the menof Uttar Pradesh, hoping they will em-pathize with his feudal mindset andgive him votes. I sincerely hope not. Ihope this is not true of the men in UP,whether they be Muslim orHindu.Because if he is remotely rightand wins even some votes then thestate that gave India so many primeministers is really doomed. UP is espe-cially ill-fated as since this party cameto power, there have been severalHindu-Muslim riots, law and order hasdisintegrated, the police are at the beckand call of political goons and therehas been absolutely no developmentof any kind. A recent trip through UPto Uttarkhand showed how very un-derdeveloped some of the towns in UPwere. State highways were non-exis-tent and in one particular bad patch justbefore the border of Uttarkhand, therewas no road for 14 kilometres. The mo-ment one crossed the border toUttarkhand the scene changed. Theroad was tarred; the marketplacesneater and more prosperous; and thepeople were better dressed and lookedhealthier.No wonder UP has some ofthe worst human development indica-tors of any state and left to theSamajwadi Party it will probably remainthat way.

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Two cases filed againstPriyanka for 'neech rajniti' commentsPATNA: Two Bihar BJPleaders today filed separatecases against PriyankaGandhi for her 'neech rajniti'(low-level politics) remarkagainst Narendra Modi.

State BJP generalsecretary Surajnandan Mehtafiled a case in the court ofPatna Chief Judicial Magis-trate Rama Kant Yadav alleg-ing that Priyanka's remarkwould promote enmity be-tween groups and lead tobreach of peace.

Court sources saidthat the matter was expected

to come up for hearing to-morrow.

BJP has alleged thatPriyanka had insulted Modi ashe belonged to a backwardcaste, a charge denied byCongress which said she wasonly referring to his 'low-level' politics.

The case was filedunder sections 153(A) (pro-moting enmity between dif-ferent groups), 153(B) (im-putations, assertions prejudi-cial to national integration),171 (G) (false statement inconnection with an election),

500 (defamation) and 504 (in-tentional insult with intent toprovoke breach of peace) ofIPC.

Another case wasfiled against Priyanka in aDarbhanga court.

Head of state BJPFishermen community cell,Arjun Sahni filed the case inthe court of DarbhangaChief Judicial MagistrateShailendra Pandey againstPriyanka levelling similarcharges.

Hearing of this caseis expected to be tomorrow.

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Rwanda plans to eliminatemalaria deaths by 2018

The Rwandan governmentTuesday launched a $329 mil-lion plan to stop malaria deathsin the country by 2018. TheRwanda Malaria Strategic Planis a public health campaign tobe coordinated by the RwandaBiomedical Centre geared ateradicating the disease thatclaimed the lives of more than400 people last year, accord-ing to Xinhua.

The campaignlaunched in Kigali focuses onencouraging all Rwandans tosleep under an insecticide-treated mosquito net, rapidtesting and treatment by com-munity health workers within24 hours of a patient showingsigns of malaria and closemonitoring of the disease byhealth personnel. Speaking atthe launch, Corine Karema,director of the malaria divisionat the Rwanda Biomedical Cen-tre, insisted that mosquito nets

remain the best way to preventmalaria infection. (Read: Nowa new method to help treatmalaria)

‘With massive distri-bution of mosquito nets wenotice a 50 percent reductionin infections,’ Karema told re-porters. She explained thatfree mosquito nets are givento children under five whenthey visit a health centre fortheir measles vaccination andto expectant mothers duringprenatal checks.

Meanwhile, SylviaMuteteli, who works on ma-laria community outreach withUrunana Development Com-munication said some peopleshun sleeping under mosquitonets for various reasons rang-ing from allergies claims to in-convenience to use.

Muteteli said herorganisation, which played arole in developing the strate-

gic plan, tries to discourage thereluctance through radio playsto raise awareness on the im-portance of sleeping under amosquito net. She, however,appealed to local leaders to getmore involved in the malariaprevention effort. There will bea concerted effort to havemore community leaders in-volved in awareness on malariaprevention and treatment, ac-cording to Karema. (Read: Top10 facts you should knowabout malaria)

In 2011 only 210,000malaria cases were reported inRwanda. This led people tobelieve malaria was no longera threat, Alphonse Rukundo, anepidemiologist specialising inmalaria said at the launch.

The Rwanda MalariaStrategic Plan will be fundedby the government of Rwandaand the US president’s MalariaInitiative and Global Fund.

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Ishrat Jahan encounter case: CBIgives 'clean chit' to Modi aide Amit ShahNEW DELHI: The CBI onWednesday told a specialcourt that no sufficient evi-dence has been found againstformer Gujarat minister AmitShah in the Ishrat Jahan en-counter case. On April 28,Union minister Kapil Sibal hadraked up alleged fake encoun-ter of Ishrat Jahan to hit outat Narendra Modi, saying theBJP's PM nominee and AmitShah were being "shielded"despite existence of "clinch-ing" evidence to arrest them.

The CBI, investigat-ing the alleged fake encoun-ter of Ishrat Jahan and threeothers, has not included anypolitical leaders inchargesheets filed by it buthas charged police and IBofficers for murder and crimi-

nal conspiracy among otherthings. Shah, a close aide ofNarendra Modi and BJP'selection-in-charge in UP, isfacing murder and conspiracycharges in two other fakeencounter cases —

Sohrabuddin Shaikh andTulsiram Prajapati.

The CBI hascharged 11 policemen, includ-ing four officers of the cen-tral IB, for killing the fourpeople in the case.

Leading Coaching Pioneer- SCAS Coaching CentreNot a factory but, Island’s Leading Institute

Port Blair, May 07: The Lead-ing Educational Centre-SCAS yet again this year2014 got a golden feather inits cap by creating Island top-pers in JEE(Mains)-2014.This year nine students ofSCAS got qualified and thegolden feather was broughtby Master. K. Vinay of NCS,Port Blair, S/o. Mr. V.V.S.Narayan, scoring 173, got itscoaching for JEE(Mains) atSCAS Coaching Centre. TheCentre Head Mr. SanjaySingh congratulated and felici-tated Vinay for his markachievement and gave awaya cash prize of Rs. 2000/-.

Other students of SCASCoaching Centre, who alsomade their mark inJEE(Mains)-2014 receivedRs. 1000/- each are namelySreetam Das, Ajay Krishnan,Shivohum Bahuguna, G.

Chaitanya Varma, AbhilashNair, A. Samson Moses,Mohd. Nazeer & R. Rohini.The Parents who werepresent on this occasion werealso greeted the teachers andfaculties from mainland who

had strongly put their effortto make their wards success-ful.

Speaking on the oc-casion Mr. Sanjay Singh ad-dressing the parents and thechildren and pledged to keepup this tradition of providingbest coaching in the upcom-

ing year also. This tradition ofSuccess started in the year2000 and till date we are earn-ing our achievements. Onbehalf of Vinay his fatherreceived the prize and pray tothe almighty for more successto Scas Coaching Centre infuture.

candidates only some aregetting part time jobs in localcolleges, while others areslogging in private shops assalesmen or working as Busconductors etc.

Sadly instead ofgiving these qualifiedyouths first chance, schoolteachers have been given theresponsibility to teachcollege students of newcollege.

Qualified youths,who are hurt to know aboutsuch developments, todayheld a meeting and decidedto take up this matter withthe Lt. Governor.

“Those teacherswill never leave the college,everyone knows that. Itseems that again we willlose our chance to becomelecturer, despite of the fact

that we are well qualified. Isthis justified?” questions anangry youth.

It is yet not clearwho will the head of the newcollege but Islanders onlyexpect that the head of thenew college should be anwell experienced lecturer,who doesn’t have record ofpast CBI cases and who hasnot been demoted in past formisappropriation.

When AndamanSheekha contacted theSecretary-cum- Director ofEducation Department hesaid that the Administrationdoes not have sanctionedposts of lecturers for newcollege and hence in case ofappointing part timelecturers, theAdministration will not beable to pay them salary and

hence PGTs will be teachingin new college in divertedcapacity.

In such case theAdministration must take anundertaking from each suchteachers, that they won’tremain in the college forever,illegally and leave the postsfor qualified lecturers, whenthe Administration will getsanctioned posts oflecturers.

Youths request thatthe Lt. Governor shouldalso personally monitor thatno officer with past recordof misappropriat ion ofpublic money becomesprincipal of the new college.Only well deserved, wellexperienced and qualifiedofficer must be appointed asprincipal of new DegreeCollege.

Shocking but... (From page 1)

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Address: Roy Villa, INS Utkrosh Road, New Pahargaon, Garacharma Post Office- 744105, South Andaman. Ph: 09932082892. andaman.shikha@gmail.com, editor@andamansheekha.com

City Office: Andaman Sheekha, D & K City Building, Ground Floor, RGT Road, Port Blair. A & N Islands.

Edited, Published, Printed and Owned by Shri Sanjib Kumar Roy and Published from Roy Villa, INS Utkrosh Road, New Pahargaon,Garacharma Post Office- 744105,South Andaman, A & N Islands. Printed at Royal Printers, Bargat Line, South Andaman. Editor: Shri Sanjib Kumar Roy.

DATE - 07-05-2014

ANDAMAN SHEEKHA WEATHER

Andaman ‘theatre’ command needsto be strengthened to counter China

New Delhi/ Port Blair, May07: The urgent need tostrengthen the strategically-located Andaman andNicobar Command (ANC) inthe backdrop of the ever-growing military asymmetrywith China, both in terms ofhardware as well as infra-structure, came to the foreat a top military conclave onTuesday.

While defence rela-tions with China may now beon an upward trajectory, theunified commanders’ confer-ence, attended by defenceminister A K Antony, GeneralBikram Singh, Air Chief Mar-shal Arup Raha and AdmiralR K Dhowan, among others,felt India has to systemati-cally build its military capa-bilities as well as infrastruc-ture to tackle any exigency.

The funds crunch,however, remains a big prob-lem affecting India’s defencepreparedness. “Leave alonemodernization, sustaining theIndian armed forces at thecurrent levels is proving dif-ficult with revenue cuts. Thedeferential is growing everyday in favour of China, whichhas the will and wherewithalto usher in transformation of

its People’s LiberationArmy,’’ said a senior official.

Then, the Army,Navy and IAF often pull indifferent directions withoutconcrete efforts being madeto resolve inter-Service doc-trinal, planning, procurementand operational issues. Theslapdash decision-making inthe defence establishment,with no real integration be-tween the ministry and theService headquarters, onlycompounds problems further.

The 572-island A&Narchipelago is a case in point.The tri-Service ANC was es-tablished in October 2001, aspart of the national securityreforms after the 1999Kargil conflict , as thecountry’s first - and till now- only “theatre command”

with all armed forces therebeing under one commander-in-chief.

But with the infra-structure to host adequateforce-levels still not in placethere, coupled with the reluc-tance of the three Servicesto part with their “assets”,the ANC has not reallyevolved into India’s frontlinemilitary outpost it was initiallyenvisaged to be.

“A powerful ANCcould effectively counterChina’s strategic moves inIndian Ocean, protect our600,000 sq km of ExclusiveEconomic Zone in the regionand ensure security of sealanes converging towardsMalacca Strait,” said an-other senior officer. (RajatPandit, TNN).

clearance for Neil Islandproject is under considerationwith MoEF, Govt of India. Lt.Governor also directedexpeditious action on thedevelopment of commercialcomplex project atMohanpura as well aslaunching of the housingproject.

He also directed thatthe Administration take upwith A&N Command andthe Forest Department fortime bound clearances for

yachts and cruise shipsvisiting A&N Islands fordeveloping tourism in theIslands.

Separately, whilereviewing the Civil AviationDepartment, the Lt. Governordirected Commissioner(Civil Aviation) to convene ameeting with senior officialsof the different Airlines atPort Blair to discuss the issueof low fare air tickets forIslanders during the period-October-March 2015.

LG directs... (From page 1)

General public are worsthi t . A s M ayabund eralways remain neglectedin such is sues , peopleprefer to migrate out ofMayabund e r , whic hpushes the area furtherbac kwar d . Mostimportantly, even after abig lapse of 67 years ofind ep end enc e , s t i l lMayabund e r ar ea i sdepending on Rangat andDigl ipur for supply ofelectricity, and of course,their first commitment ofpower supply s t and salways with their localityonly.

Further, because offrequent efforts of the D.C.N & M Andaman 03 nos.of diesel generators setswere installed one yearback here in Mayabunderand it almost succeeded topr ov id e a d jus t ableelectricity, but due to theut most neg l igenc e inproper functioning of dutyof f ic i a ls/ o f f ic er s o felectricity department 02out of 03 D.G. sets sufferedmassive breakdown at thesame time.

Ra t h er s ee ki ngsolutions, the concernedofficials, officer and thesub or d in at e s t a f f s ar enow blaming each otherfo r t h is m is er ab lecondition. Sadly, becauseof t he ir s la c k ne ssbe ha v i or , t h e ge ne r a l

public especially the kidsbelow 05 years are thecore sufferer during theroaring temperature of 31to 35 degree Celsius.

Re s i d e nt s o fMayabunder believe thaton ly i f L t . Go ve r n orintervenes into this issueper s onal ly t hings wi l lbecome better immediatelyfor them.

I f t h eAdministration on publicinterest deploy an expertteam to verify the reasonsfor the breakdown of 02Nos D.G. sets togethert h en t he f ac t s w i l l beunveiled, and this is onlythe action to sort out theproblems to reinstall thesoo t hin g c o nd it ion byreconditioning the D.G.sets and this will help thege ne r a l pu bl ic o fMayabunder to get backinto the track.

In the meantime apr oc es s i on h as b ee norganized today by thegeneral public on publicin t e r e s t d ur in g t h eev en ing s t ar t i ng f r omHelipad ground to APWDGu es t Ho us e ,Mayabund er involv inglarge number of peoplec onsis t ing women andc hi ld r en f r om var i ousc or ner o f Mayabund erlocality with slogans topr ov id e 24 h ou r s o felectricity supply.

Dark Days... (From page 1)

SC bans Jallikattubull fights in Tamil Nadu

NEW DELHI: The SupremeCourt on Wednesday bannedTamil Nadu's centuries-oldJallikattu bull fights.

A bench of JusticeKS Radhakrishnan and Jus-tice Pinaki Chandra Ghosealso asked the centre toamend the law on preventingcruelty to animals to bring bulls

within its ambit. The courtalso struck down a 2011 TamilNadu law regulating the con-duct of Jallikattu.

The law provided forconducting Jallikattu fromJanuary to May in variousplaces in Tamil Nadu to en-sure the protection of not onlythe participants but also of the

spectators.The law was enacted

in the wake of a large num-ber of deaths and injuries thattook place during the sport.The ban order came as theapex court allowed an appealby the Animal Welfare Boardof India challenging a Madrashigh court verdict.