VOL: 03 I ISSUE NO: 25 I REG NO:ANDENG/2011/38184 I 31 JANUARY 2014 I FRIDAY I Rs. 2.00 I DAILY I PORT BLAIR I www.andamansheekha.com

PRINCE STORE

Port Blair, January 30: As arelief to thousands of youthseeking Govt jobs whereinthey have had to face realproblems in getting theircert if icates attested bygazetted officer, Lt Gen(Retd), A K Singh, Hon’ble LtGovernor of A&N Islandshas ordered that self-attestation/self-certificationof documents/testimonialsby the applicants will beaccepted at the time ofapplying for Govt Jobs in theAdministration. From nowonwards, self-attestation/self-certification will be goodenough. For long, the youthof the Islands have beenfacing great inconveniencein getting the attestation ofcert ificates done by agazetted officer. Applicantshad to run around to findofficer to get the photo copiesof their certificates attested.This move will provide

Landmark decision for local youths

LG ordersself-attestationof certificates

much needed relief to theyouth of the Islands. People,especially in remote placesof the Islands stand toimmensely benefit from it.

However, under theself-attestation method, theconcerned Department shallhave to verify the originaldocuments/test imonialsbefore the finalappointment.

Overloading an old tradition in Andamans

Port Blair, Jan 30: It seems thatwe have learnt nothing fromthe tourist boat capsizeincident, in which 22 touristsare killed. Overloading hasbecome a tradition in theseIslands everyone one can seeoverloaded vehicles,including school bus, school

vans and other cargovehicles.

Andaman Sheekhais publishing two suchphotographs in firstphotograph one can seenearly 20 labourers stuffedin an old cargo jeep and insecond photograph onecan see nearly 12 schoolchildren inside a schoolferry van.

Special CorrespondentSheekha News Service

Reward for Brave-hearts:Boat Damage, Life Jacket loss,

floating buoy loss,hospitalization and physical abuse

Port Blair, Jan 30: Meet thebrave hearts. AndamanSheekha team traced out thecrew members of MV Jaikar,the boat which was presentwhen the tourist boat MV

Mohammed SajidSheekha News Service

(See page 7)

Aqua Marine was sinkingnear North Bay Island. Fivecrew members of MV Jaikardemonstrated exceptionalcourage and saved 10tourists from drowning.

But sadly in rewardthey were attacked by thetourists present in their boat.

The team leader ThambaMaster recalls the arrogantand selfish behavior oftourists present in his boat onthat day.

“They startedshouting and abusing us,forcing us to leave the place

2 31.01.2014 Rs. 2.00 Andaman Sheekha Daily Port Blair

3 people of Indian originawarded Australia Day HonoursCHENNAI: Three Aus-tralians of Indian originwere awarded the Aus-t r a lia Day Honour s inrecognition of their con-tr ibut ion to Aus tr aliansociety.

S a d a n a n d a nNambiar, Radhey ShyamGup t a a nd P r a t i s hChandra Bandopadhayaymade i t to the honourslist announced on Austra-lia Day earlier this week.

Namb ia r , whoworks with the Common-wealth Scientific and In-dus t r ia l Res ea r chOrganisation (CSIRO),has been a war ded theOfficer of Order of Aus-tralia, Australia's secondhighes t award, for hisdist inguished service tos cience. Namb ia r, whowas born in Azhicode inKerala, has been living inAustralia since 1970. Heis a forest scientist inter-nationally recognized as

a leader in r esea rch onsustainable productivityand management of for-ests. He promotes the sus-tainable management offorests in Australia andtropical countries.

R adhey S hya mGupta, from Templestowe,Vict or ia , r eceived t heM eda l of the Order ofAustralia for services tothe arts through classicalIndia n mu s ic . Gup t at ea ches a nd p la ysHindustani classical mu-sic. He is an expert sitarplayer and has performedin concer ts across Indiaand Australia for over 40years.Bandopadhayay re-ceived the Medal of theOrder of Aus t r a li a forcommunity service to theAust r alian Bengali andNepali communities.

Congratulating theawardees, Australian highcommiss ioner Pa t r ickS u ckl ing s a id t hei r

a chievement s wer e inrecognition of the contri-bution the Indian commu-nity had made to Austra-lian society.

With an estimatedp opu la t ion of over4,50,000 people, includingpermanent residents andtemporary visa holders,people of Indian back-ground constitute a largeand growing part of con-temporary Australia.

"People-to-peoplelinks between our coun-tries have been expandingrapidly. India has been inthe top three source coun-tr ies for temporary andpermanent skilled migra-tion for the past severalyears," he said.

"T he awards r e-flect the fact that Austra-lia is a country of migrantsand is one of the most eth-nically diverse societies int he wor ld , " S uckl ingadded.

Warship INS Vikrantheads for Alang death

AHMEDABAD: INSVikrant, India's first aircraftcarrier which played a keyrole in 1971 India-Pak war,is certain to go under thehammer at Alang.The 213.3-metre-long aircraft carrierthat was decommissioned in1997 is on its way to Alangand is expected to berth offBhavnagar coast soon,sources close to the develop-ment confirmed.Sources alsosaid that a Mumbai-based

ship-breaker has purchasedINS Vikrant in the e-auction.

The Centre had keptits reserve price at Rs 3.1crore, but it is expected to havefetched much more in theauction. The Centre has spentRs 22 crore on the repairs ofthis vessel that is made up of15,000 tonnes steel.

INS Vikrant, the soleWorld War II-era British-builtaircraft carrier to be preservedas a museum, was launched

on September 22, 1945.Last month, Mumbai

High Court had dismissed apublic interest litigation (PIL)filed by an activist to stop thegovernment's proposed planto auction the ship as a scrap.

HC bench of ChiefJustice Mohit Shah and Jus-tice M S Sanklecha had ac-cepted defence ministry'sstand that the aircraft is 'com-pletely unsafe' and unfit forpreservation as museum.

Port Blair, Jan 30: Body of thelast missing tourist ofAndaman’s tourist BoatTragedy, has been found bythe search party nearDugnabad Sea Shore of PortBlair city after 72 hours ofcontinuous search, taking to-tal toll to 22.

According to finalreports there were 50 peopleonboard the tourist boat“Aqua Marine” out of which21 bodies were recovered 26January night while one bodywas found today.Sources told ‘AndamanSheekha’ that the body wasin highly decomposed stateand was identified with thehelp of ID card found in thepocket of the body.

M.V. Rifleman, a po-lice interceptor boat alongwith divers was carrying outthe search operation under thesupervision of Shri. Mohd.Aslam, DySP (PMF). Thedeceased was identifiedthereafter the post-mortemexamination was conductedand the body was handedover to the relatives.

The body was latersent to Chennai by today’sflight. 28 people, including 26tourists have survived thetragedy.

According to policesources the accident tookplace at around 3.00 PM on26 January, when tourist boatwas going toward ChathamJetty of Port Blair city fromRoss Island, as a part of usual

three island trip to Viper,Ross and North Bay.

Search teams ofCoast Guard, Police and Ship-ping Services were searchingfor the body of Mr. Suresh, atourist from Kanchipuramsince last four days.

A team, consisting of32 tourists, fromKanchipuram District ofTamil Nadu suffered maxi-mum burnt of the accident as16 members of the team losttheir lives

According to reportOut of 10 tourists fromMumbai three are dead.From Kolkata there were two(one died), Saharanpur, UPthere were two (one died) andfrom New Delhi there weretwo and both of them sur-vived.

Two crew memberson the boat from Port Blairand all of them also survivedthe accident.

Meanwhile, the po-lice custody remand of thethree accused personsnamely (1) T. ChandraSekharan (2) A. Prabhu and(3) Narottam Gomasta hasbeen extended by 4 days inthe Court of Chief JudicialMagistrate.

The owner of theboat, Smti. T. Jaya has beenremanded to judicial custodyfor 14 days. Detailed investi-gation of the case is inprogress, a communicationfrom the Superintendent ofPolice (CID) said.

Body of last missing tourists ofAndaman’s Boat Tragedy found; toll 22

Cold day in someareas, fog in most

places in Uttar PradeshLUCKNOW: Cold day condi-tions prevailed at some placesin Uttar Pradesh where theweather remained mainly dry.

Dense to moderatefog occurred at most places inthe state, according to the MeToffice.

Night temperaturesfell in the Bareilly and Meerutdivisions and changed little inthe remaining divisions of thestate. In the Bareilly division,the night temperature was be-low normal, the weather de-partment said. They were

above normal in Faizabad andAllahabad and were normal inthe remaining divisions of thestate.

Lowest minimumtemperature of the state was3.5 degree Celsius recorded atNazibabad.

According to theMeT department forecast,weather would be mainly dryand dense to moderate fogwould occur at few placesover the state. Cold day con-ditions would prevail at isolatedplaces.

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Port Blair, Jan 30: A three dayBharat Nirman Public Infor-mation campaign will com-mence from 2nd February atthe remote Island Kamorta,Nancowrie. The Islands LtGovernor, Lt Gen ( Retd) AK Singh will inaugurate thecampaign on Sunday at 11 a.m. at Hockey ground inKamorta. The Lt Governorwill also release a set of 12booklets on different develop-mental programmes and theChief Secretary,AnandPrakash will receivethe first copies of these illus-trated booklets.

The Lt Governor willalso flag off Bharat NirmanCanoe race by the TribalWomen at Kamorta Jetty inthe afternoon. As part of theCampaign, a Bharat NirmanMarathon will be held on 3rdmorning.

A large number oftribal youths and women willtake part in this theme basedMarathon to focus on the ini-tiatives taken by the govern-ment to take Rural India for-ward. The Islands Chief Sec-retary, AnandPrakash willflag off this first ever Mara-thon in this remote island onMonday morning at 7 a.m. at

Indira Park .The main attraction

of the campaign is the Exhi-bition on Bharat Nirmanshowcasing the achievementsmade under different flagshipprogrammes of the govern-ment. About 30 departmentsincluding central media unitsparticipate in the campaign toenlighten the tribal people onvarious initiatives taken by thegovernment to improve the liv-ing standards of the people inrural areas, besides differentwelfare schemes. The cam-paign will begin with acolourful rally by the tribal

youths, Volunteers fromNehru Yuva Kendra and theschool students.

The Press Informa-tion Bureau in close coordi-nation with Andaman andNicobar Adminstration andCentral Media Units orga-nizes this campaign with theobjective of highlighting dif-ferent developmental andwelfare programmes of thegovernment, besides show-casing the achievementsmade under differentprogrammes as well as stridesdevelopments in variousfields. (PIB)

LT GOVERNOR TO OPEN BHARATNIRMAN PUBLIC INFORMATION CAMPAIGN

IN NANCOWRY ON 2 FEBRUARY Port Blair, January 30: A largenumber of people from theIslands during their travel tomainland prefer to stay in theAndaman Bhawans in thethree metro cities at Chennai,Kolkata and New Delhi. Tak-ing into consideration the longdemand from various sectionsof people including politicalleaders, Lt Gen (Retd), A KSingh, Hon’ble Lt Governorof A&N Islands has approvedthe reduction of room tariff inall the three AndamanBhawans located at Chennai,Kolkata and New Delhi, thusgiving a 50% relief in roomtariff to the islanders. Peopleof the Islands will now haveto pay only Rs 500/- as roomtariff instead of Rs 1000 /-charged presently. The re-

Commendable move by Lt.Gen (Retd.) A K Singh

LG orders reduction ofroom tariff of Andaman Bhawans

duction of room tariff fromRs 1000/- to Rs 500/- for theislanders is for the first 7 days.Thereafter, the room tariffwill be doubled. Besides, per-mission is required from thecompetent authority for stayfor more than 7 days in theseguest houses.

Port Blair, Jan 30: As an in-terim measure to avert prob-lems of tourists in visitingRoss Island, the Directorateof Shipping Services would bemaking arrangements to op-erate a government boat of100 passenger capacity from

Ferry service to Ross IslandPhoenix Bay Jetty to RossIsland. Preparations are on tooperate two trips to Ross Is-land daily.

The details on date ofcommencement of service,ticketing etc. are expectedshortly.

Power interruptionPort Blair, Jan 30: It is in-formed that there shall be in-terruption of power supplyfrom Rangat Bay toMayabunder in Mayabunderand Nimbudera feeders on 1stFebruary 2014 from 0700

hours to 1400 hours for car-rying out damaged pole re-placement at Morishdera andother urgent maintenance ofHT/LT Line. This work shallnot be done in case of inclem-ent weather.

MGMNP to remainclosed for tourism activities

Port Blair, Jan 30: It is for theinformation of General Public,Tour Operators, Tourists andothers that the Jolly Buoy Is-land in Mahatma Gandhi Ma-

rine National Park (MGMNP),Wandoor shall remain closedfor the tourism activities witheffect from 30th January-2014,since plying of tourist boats/

vessels has been stopped tillclearance of boats by safetyaudit. The opening of the samewill be intimated soon after thecompletion of safety audit.

Port Blair, Jan 30: PCC Presi-dent Kuldeep Rai Sharma hasalso taken up the issue ofgrant of Grade Pay ofRs.2000/- to the Followers ofIRBn employed under the A& N Administration with theUnion Home Minister MrShushil Kumar Shinde duringhis meeting on 29 1 2014.

Kuldeep has submit-ted that the Andaman andNicobar Administration withthe approval accorded by theHon'ble President of Indiaand in accordance with theguidelines issued by the Gov-ernment of India, Ministry ofHome Affairs vide No. II-

27011/102/2000-PF.II (i)dated 26.07.2001 has raisedan India ReserveBattalion(IRBn) on the pat-tern of CPMFs having asanctioned strength of 1007Personnel which includes 69posts of Followers of differ-ent categories viz. FollowerCook 24 Nos, Water Carrier15 Nos, Sweeper 15 Nos,Dhobi 08 Nos. and Barber 07Nos. On the basis of the rec-ommendations of Sixth PayCommission, Pay Band-Iwith Grade Pay of Rs. 1800/- has been extended to theFollowers effective from 1stJanuary, 2006 and their pay

is being drawn in the samestructure in pursuance ofMinistry of Home AffairsOrder No. II 27011/26-PF.IIdated 29th October, 2009. Inthis context, Kuldeep hasstated that " it is imperativeto mention that, where theFollowers working underCPMFs/Assam Rifles aftersuccessful completion oftraining imparted by the con-cerned organization havebeen made eligible for beingabsorbed in the grade of Com-batant Constables againstregular vacancies in the PayBand-I with Grade pay Rs.

Kuldeep takes up matter of gradepay of IRBn Jawans with Home Minister

(See page 5)

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31.01.2014 Daily Issue::25

EDITORIAL.....Yearning bright

The fo rest o fficials o fRanthambore crouch in the un-dergrowth, whiskers twitchingfor the slightest hint of their‘prey’ as i sit down to this col-umn. The missing Machli getsher name from the pattern ofstripes on her face. So it is anapt if unhappy coincidence tobe writing this in my fish-lov-ing home state presided overby another Bengal tigress.

The death of every ti-ger diminishes us, but fear hasbeen more tremulous than allthe forests of the night in theweeks that Machli hasn’t beenspotted. She is already legend.And, please, not becauseRussell Brand ‘gave’ her as awedding present to Kate Perrysaying she t oo was t he‘epitome of beauty’. Unliketheir short-lived celebrity mar-riage, ‘solemnised’ noisily inthis very forest, Machli hasspawned more than half of thest r iped populat ion o fRajasthan’s national parks.

The frantic search inRanthambore sends me scur-rying for Valmik Thapar’s Ti-ger Fire. The leonine-lookingauthority launched it at our lastTOI Literary Carnival, and itis a tome befitting the magnifi-cent beast whose 500-year In-dian sojourn Valmik has cap-tured. Alas, i am also remindedof two earlier Decembers ofkarmic disappointment.The ti-ger dwells in the realm of mys-ticism, and there are two typesof seekers. Those who aregranted a darshan and thosewho aren’t. Perversely, theformer don’t catch merely aglimpse; they get a full frontalcommand performance. Theyalso consider it their pious dutyto rub their anointed status intothe darshan-denied. Trust me,for us poor unblessed, it is notiger balm.

In 2005, anticipationembraced us as soon as we goto ff t he t ra in a t SawaiMadhopur, and then roared outfrom every humble lodge orluxe tent in Ranthambore. AtVanyavilas, we got a prepara-tory talk from the claw-scarred

Fateh Singh Rathore, the ulti-mate Tiger Man who had givenMachli her moniker; her offi-cial name is simply T16. Junglelore may be littered by therecord number of cubs sheproduced and their progenybut in those three days in thewilderness, all we ‘saw’ wasthe illusion of the twitch of ast riped tail in the dappledgrass.

As we sat in our jeep,dry-tongued and clammy-palmed, Satish, our guide,spoke of the certainty of atiger’s arrival as if it were the9.17 to Churchgate. Hepo int ed to t he skyscapepainted by a flock of exoticbirds, to the rare sight of a bearin the distance. We were notbeguiled. We wanted only oneboon. And we were turnedaway – denied bliss, or at leasta story to dine off for years.

The darshan-getters re-turn to be twice blessed. Thedarshan-denied come back forone more chance. Either wayit is money-spinner fo rRajasthan. In 2012, Machlireceived a Lifetime Achieve-ment Award from the globalTravel Operators For Tigers; inthe past 10 years, she hadraked in an estimated $10 mil-lion per annum for the localeconomy.

But, if in Ranthamborethe tiger is opportunity, in theSunderban it is threat. Visitingthose surreal mangroves twoDecembers later, there was noescape from the ubiquitouswayside temples to Bon Bibi,slayer of the t iger demonDokkhin Rai, the clusters of‘tiger widow’ villages, thepainted masks worn on theback of the head by the gath-erers of forest produce so asto fool the tiger into thinkingthat they were facing it, and sodeter it from surprising themfrom behind. Death here is anintegral part of livelihood.

Having sailed into thisfluid shoreline in the hope ofbreaking my tiger jinx, i cameaway almost feeling that NOTsighting one was a boon.

17 Trinamool supportersinjured in road accident

HOOGHLY: Seventeen TrinamoolCongress supporters, on their way ina bus to attend a party rally in Kolkata,were injured in a road accident dueto poor visibility at Guptipara inHooghly district on Friday.

They were injured when thebus, carrying 35 Trinamool support-

ers from Nabadwip in Nadia district,dashed against a tree due to densefog this morning, superintendent ofpolice Sunil Chowdhury said.

While the critically injuredbus driver was rushed to Kolkata, 16others were admitted to the ChinsuraImambara hospital, he said.

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NASA to make wateron Moon, oxygen on Mars

NASA is planning to launchrobotic missions to make wa-ter on the Moon in 2018 andoxygen on Mars in 2020.The Moon mission will be theUS space agency's first at-tempt to demonstrate in-situresource utilisation (ISRU)beyond Earth.

The purpose ofISRU, or "living off the land"is to harness and utilisespace resources to createproducts and services whichenable and significantly re-duce the mass, cost, and riskof near-term and long-termspace exploration.

"Every pound thatyou don't have to launchfrom the Earth of dumbmass - things like water andair and propellant - meansthat you can add a pound ofintelligent mass - an experi-ment, a computer, somethingdesigned to accomplishsome job or give us somecapability," said lunar geolo-

gist Paul Spudis, with theLunar and Planetary Insti-tute in Houston.

"Doing ISRU givesyou incredible leverage be-cause you're changing thefraction of intelligent-to-dumb mass on your space-craft in favour of the intelli-gent part," he said.

The first in-spaceISRU test is targeted for2018, 'Discovery News' re-ported.

NASA plans tolaunch a mission called Re-source Prospector that in-cludes a rover with instru-ments to scout for telltalehydrogen, drill out samples,heat them and scan for wa-ter vapour and othervolatiles on the moon.Vapour also could be re-condensed to form a dropof water."A lot of the tech-nologies have broader usethan just lunar...it's just aconvenient location to be

testing the ISRU technol-ogy," said Jason Crusan, di-rector of Advanced Explo-ration Systems at NASAheadquarters in WashingtonDC.

A second ISRU ex-periment is due to be aboardNASA's next Mars rover,which is slated for launchin 2020.The device, which is yet tobe selected, would pull car-bon dioxide f rom theplanet's atmosphere, filterout dust and other particlesand prepare the gas forchemical processing intooxygen.The demonstrationalso could include actualoxygen production, the re-port said.

2000/-, the Followers ofIRBn under the UT Ad-minis t r a tion of theAndaman & Nicobar Ad-ministration continues todraw the pay in the PayBand-I with Grade Pay ofRs. 1800/-." Kuldeep hasthen advocated that, as theIRBn in the UT ofAndaman & Nicobar Ad-ministration has also beenraised in pattern similar toCPMFs and the Followersworking under the IRBn ofthis Administration are sub-jected to nature of dutiesand service conditions asthat of CPMFs there existsfull justification of grantingthem Pay Band-I withGrade Pay of Rs.2000/- in-stead of Rs.1800/- whichthey a r e get t ing a tpresent.Conceding to theabove s ta ted fact , theAndaman & Nicobar Ad-ministration initially tookup the case of the Follow-ers of IRBn and recom-mended to Minis t ry ofHome Affairs, Govt. of In-dia to extend them the Pay

Band-I with Grade Pay ofRs.2000/- vide the Admin-istration letter No. 54-70/2006-Home date the 11thJuly, 2011 but the decisionis still resting with the min-istry. Then Kuldeep hassubmitted the copy of thelatest communication donebetween the A & N Ad-ministration and the Minis-try of Home Affairs vide A& N Administration LetterN o . 4 5 - 7 0 / 2 0 1 1 -Home(RR)/PF dated23.07.2013 for kind perusalof the Union Home Minis-ter and r eques ted tha tsince the matter to get re-solved has consumed con-siderable time, the HomeMinister may kindly lookinto the matter sympatheti-cally and resolve the issuein favour of the Followersof the IRBn of the A&NAdministration at an earlydate.The Home Ministerhas given a patient hearingof the whole case and hasassured to take care of theissue raised by KuldeepRai Sharma.

Kuldeep takes up.... (From page 3)

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Bad breakfast habits in youth up risk of metabolic syndromeTeens who eat poor break-fasts are more likely to de-velop metabolic syndrome —a group of health problemsthat can increase the risk ofheart attack, stroke, and dia-betes — in adulthood, a newstudy has warned. Re-searchers from Umea Uni-versity in Sweden found thatadolescents who ate poorbreakfasts displayed a higherincidence of metabolic syn-drome 27 years later, com-pared with those who atemore substantialbreakfasts.Metabolic syn-

drome is a collective term forfactors that are linked to anincreased risk of sufferingfrom cardiovascular disor-ders, researcherssaid.Metabolic syndrome en-compasses abdominal obesity,high levels of harmful triglyc-erides, low levels of protec-tive HDL (High Density Li-poprotein), high blood pres-sure and high fasting bloodglucose levels.The new studyasked all students completingyear 9 of their schooling inLulea in 1981 (NorthernSwedish Cohort) to answer

questions about what they atefor breakfast.After 27 years,the respondents underwent ahealth check where the pres-ence of metabolic syndromeand its various subcomponentswas investigated, researcherssaid.The study showed that theyoung people who neglected toeat breakfast or ate a poorbreakfast had a 68 per centhigher incidence of metabolicsyndrome as adults, comparedwith those who had eaten moresubstantial breakfasts in theiryouth.This conclusion wasdrawn after taking into account

socioeconomic factors andother lifestyle habits of the ado-lescents in question, research-ers said.

Abdominal obesityand high levels of fasting bloodglucose levels were the sub-components which, at adultage, could be most clearly linkedwith poor breakfast in youth,they added.“Further studies are

required for us to be able to un-derstand the mechanisms in-volved in the connection be-tween poor breakfast andmetabolic syndrome, but ourresults and those of several pre-vious studies suggest that a poorbreakfast can have a negativeeffect on blood sugar regula-tion,” said Maria Wennberg,the study’s lead author.

The management and staff of Palm Grove Eco Re-sort and A.G.Motors deeply mourn the loss of lives oftourist in the tragic boat accident which occurred on26.01.2014 claiming twenty two lives. Our deep heart-felt condolences to the bereaved family members andpray to almighty to give them enough strength andcourage to overcome this irreparable loss. May thedeparted souls rest in peace.

Palm Grove Eco Resort & A GMotors mourns death of 22 tourists

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Cabinet approves raising ceiling onsubsidized cooking gas cylinders to 12 from 9

NEW DELHI: With Congressvice-president Rahul Gandhipitching strongly for a higherLPG cap, the Union Cabinet onThursday approved a proposalto raise the quota of subsidizedLPG cylinders from 9 to 12 perhousehold in a year.

"From February 1,every month one subsidizedcylinder will be available toeach household," oil ministerM Veerappa Moily said onThursday.

Rahul Gandhi hadstated at the All India CongressCommittee session that therewas a need to increase thequota to 12 cylinders of 14.2-kg each.

If the quota is raisedto 12, about 97 per cent of theLPG consumers would be cov-

ered by subsidized LPG, oilminister M Veerappa Moilysaid.Increasing the limit to 12would result in an additionalfuel subsidy burden of Rs3,300 crore-4,000 crore. Thegovernment already incursabout Rs 46,000 crore per an-num as LPG subsidy.

The government hadinitially capped the supply ofsubsidized domestic LPG cyl-inders to six per householdannually in September 2012 ina bid to cut its subsidy bill. Thequota was raised to nine inJanuary 2013.

Consumers who haveexhausted their quota have tobuy LPG at the market priceof Rs 1,258 per cylinder. Sub-sidized LPG costs Rs 414 percylinder in Delhi.

Port Blair, Jan 30: “Associa-tion of Rural People ofAndaman & Nicobar Islands(ARPAN) in association withYouth Club Ograbraj & MAKYouth Club, Tushnabad is or-ganizing “State OpenARPAN Rolling Cup Vol-ley Ball Championship -2014” at Forest Ground,Tushnabad Junction. Allmatches will be played underfloodlights and exciting prizes

State Open ARPAN Rolling CupVolley Ball Championship - 2014

including cash prizes are of-fered. Altogether an amountof Rs. 25, 000/- shall beawarded to the winner andrunner of the tournament. Thetournament is being organizedin order to inculcate sports-manship among the youths.

This is the secondtournament in this series, thefirst one being during the yearFeb’2013 wherein A&N Po-lice is the standing champion

of the rolling cup tournament.Entries are invited

from Youth Clubs, Govern-ment Departments & otherinstitutions to register for thisyear’s tournament.

The last date of en-try is 6th Feb’2014 latest by5pm. Further details could beobtained over phone nos.9933210768, 9434260427,9933262924, 9434273660 &224544".

Rangat Mourns

Islanders of Rangat today organized a Candle Light rallyand observed two minute mourn to pay tribute to 22 tour-ists, who died in a boat accident on 26.01.2014. (Pic: D JVenkatesh)

Port Blair, Jan 30: TheThiruvalluvar Youth Club atSubhash gram Diglipur re-constituted its managingcommittee on 22 Jan itsmeet ing at TamizharSangam. The Executivecommittee comprising Mr.T.Balasubbiramanian as

Thiruvalluvar Youth Club reconstitutedPresident, Mr. Anbalaganas Vice Pres ident, Mr.V.Arumugam Mr.U.Mohan as Joint Secre-tary Mr. Rajasekaran asTreasurer and eleven mem-bers as Executive mem-bers, a communication saidhere.

Port Blair, Jan 30: The RSCSwimming compet it ionscheduled from Feb 5 to 7,2014 and the RSC OpenSea Water Swimming com-petition from Ross Island toAberdeen Jetty scheduledon Feb 8 have been post-

Swimming competitions postponedponed due to the boat trag-edy occurred on Jan 26.The next date and time forthe competition will be an-nounced later, a communi-cation from the Chairman,RSC, Shri K. Ganeshansaid here today.

81st immediate supportvessels squadron commissioned

MUMBAI: In an effort tostrengthen maritime security,the 81st Immediate SupportVessels Squadron compris-ing seven Immediate SupportVessels (ISVs) were com-missioned into the IndianNavy on Thursday.

The ships were com-missioned at Naval Dock-yard, Mumbai by SudhirVasudeva, chairman andmanaging director ONGC, inthe presence of senior navalofficers and dignitaries fromONGC. A total of twentythree ISVs are planned to becommissioned in the IndianNavy. India's economic de-

velopment is dependent onthe seas and thus safeguard-ing the nation's maritime in-terests is extremely impor-tant.

Our vital oil and gasinstallations located in theoffshore provide almost 70%of India's indigenous hydro-carbon production and arevaluable assets for energysecurity.

The security ofthese national off shore as-sets of vital economic im-portance demands constantsurveillance and credible re-sponse capability and swiftreactions to emergent situ-

ations. The ISVs areequipped with advancednavigational and communi-cation equipment and armedwith heavy and light ma-chine guns.

These vessels aredesigned to achieve speedsin excess of 40 knots (75Km/hr) and can sustainthemselves at sea for a con-siderable duration. Built in-genuously by M/S SHMShipcare these vesselswould be operated by theIndian Navy and would pa-trol the Offshore Oil Devel-opment Areas thus strength-ening offshore security.

and take them to safety. Theystarted throwing equipmentsand things present in my boatinto water to force us to leavethe place. They even slappedone crew member andattacked me,” he recalls.

They had thrownnearly 26 life jackets to thepassengers of MV AquaMarina but got only five lifejackets back that too they hadto take a small dinghy and

search all along the coastalbelt.

Even out of threefloating buoys they got onlyone buoy back.

Two of the crewmembers who were in waterfor maximum duration havefallen ill since that day andare on leave for treatment.But talking to AndamanSheekha they say that theydon’t regret the losses as they

were able to save 10 people.“The only regret is that wecould have saved others if thetourists in our boat wouldhave cooperated with us,”Thamba Master added.

Hope that theAdministration willacknowledge thecontribution of these fivebrave men and honour themwith LG’s CommendationCertificate.

Reward for... (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.

8 31.01.2014 Rs. 2.00 Andaman Sheekha Daily Port Blair

MILAN 2014 – FRIENDSHIP ACROSS THE SEASPort Blair, Jan 30: As reportedearlier, Andaman and NicobarCommand is to host the inter-national naval event, MILAN2014 in Port Blair from 03 to09 February 2014. MILAN2014 is the ninth edition in theMILAN series of multilateralnaval engagements that wasstarted by the Indian Navy in1995, in consonance with thecountry’s ‘Look East Policy’of strengthening friendly tieswith the nations in the Bay ofBengal region and South EastAsia. Seas are the commonbond between these nationsand have been used sincetimes immemorial. As a natu-ral outcome oftheseinteraction the culturalties and friendly relations alsoblossomed. There is abundantevidence of the strong bondsthat have flourished since an-cient times between India andthese nations through the searoutes. In the 1990s, whenIndia embarked on the ‘LookEast Policy’ to revive our tieswith neighbouring nations inthe East, the Indian Navy be-came one of the natural con-tenders to promote this initia-tive. As a consequence, theIndian Navy conceptualizedthe MILAN event, with theunderlying theme of ‘Friend-ship Across the Seas’. Thecentral location of theAndaman and Nicobar Is-lands made them the obviouschoice for the Indian Navy tohost this event. MILAN is theHindi word for ‘Tryst’ or‘Meeting’, and was chosen asthe title for this biennial gath-ering of naval and maritimeforces from littoral countriesof the region and beyond.

The initial editions ofMILAN were conducted bythe erstwhile Fortress Com-mander Andaman andNicobar or FORTAN, beingthe senior most naval author-ity in the Andaman andNicobar Islands. The first edi-tion of MILAN saw partici-pation of four neighbouringcountries, i.e. Indonesia,Singapore, Sri Lanka andThailand, besides India. Thenext two editions in 1997 and1999 saw the participation in-crease to seven countries,with Bangladesh and Malay-sia joining in. MILAN was notheld in 2001 as the same yearsaw the Indian Navy hostingthe first-ever InternationalFleet review in Mumbai. Post

Kargil, the growing strategicsignificance of the Islands ledto the creation of India’s firstUnified Theatre Command,the Andaman and NicobarCommand at Port Blair inOctober 2001. The Com-mand has components of theIndian Army, Indian Navy,Indian Air Force and the In-dian Cost Guard placed un-der a single Commander-in-Chief, instead of the respec-tive service heads. With itsmotto of ‘Victory ThroughJointness’, the integratedcharacter of the Andamanand Nicobar Command, en-ables it to orchestrate unifiedresponses to challenges fromany dimension.

After its raising inOctober 2001, the Andamanand Nicobar Command as-sumed the onus of conduct-ing MILAN. The first editionof MILAN under the newlyconstituted Command washeld in 2003, and saw the par-ticipation increase to eightcountries. Australia andMyanmar were the new in-clusions, while Bangladeshwas unable to participate inMILAN 2003. MILAN 2005was initially scheduled in Feb-ruary 2005. However, follow-ing the catastrophic earth-quake and tsunami that dev-astated the region in Decem-ber 2004, MILAN 2005 waspostponed to 2007. Andamanand Nicobar Command em-barked on a massive reliefand rehabilitation programmein aid of the Islanders. See-ing the rapid progress and thebrisk pace of rehabilitation, abold decision was taken toadvance MILAN to January2006. Considering the mas-sive scale of planning and co-ordination involved in prepa-ration for the mega event, andthe several constraints andlimited resources withinwhich the arrangementswere to be undertaken, thetask was an onerous chal-lenge. However, with relent-

less efforts the event wassuccessfully conducted inJanuary 2006, thus under-scoring the swift return tonormalcy in the Andaman andNicobar Islands. The partici-pation in MILAN 2006 hadalso increased to eight foreigncountries with Bangladeshrejoining the event after herbrief absence in 2003.MILAN continued to bloominto a successful forum dur-ing the subsequent years.Thirteen countries partici-pated in MILAN 2010 and theparticipation increased tofourteen countries in 2012.Over the years, MILAN hasburgeoned into an effectiveforum to address commonconcerns in the maritime do-main as also to help forge co-operative initiatives. The bi-ennial event has now becomean eagerly awaited gatheringof littoral nations to buildfriendship, strengthen culturalties and foster mutual under-standing between the partici-pating nations. MILAN 2014will be the largest ever gath-ering with the participation ofsixteen countries.

Air Marshal PK Roy,PVSM, AVSM, VM, VSM,ADC Commander-in-ChiefAndaman and Nicobar Com-mand, along with senior offi-cials of the Command carriedout a comprehensive onsitereview of the various prepa-ratory arrangements at theNaval Jetty on 29 January2014. The Naval Jetty willform the centerpiece for sev-eral activities of MILAN 2014,and will also berth many of theparticipating foreign ships. Thejetty has been spruced up andpresents a festive look inpreparation for the interna-tional event. Detailedprogramme for the event willhe published in all local news-papers and will be broadcaston Doordarshan, Port Blair.Our fellow Islanders are re-quested to attend and makethe event a mega success.

Port Blair, Jan 30: Thosewho have registered to par-ticipate in RSC Open Volley-ball tournament (for Men &Women) have been requestedto contact the OrganizingS e c r e t a r y ,Shri.Y.Venkatraman over cellnumber 9434282295/

RSC Open Volleyball tourney9434264762. Draw will beheld on Feb 4, 2014.

The tournament isbeing organized by RSC PortBlair in association with Di-rectorate of Sports &YA andEducation Department, acommunication receivedhere said.

The Committee on Private Members Resolution ofJharkhand Legislative Assembly meets the ChiefSecretary, A&N Administration, Shri Anand Prakash atSecretariat on 30.01.2014.

Port Blair, Jan 30:‘Baakprotima’, a Bengali LittleMagazine published fromA&N Islands is participatingin the 38th InternationalKolkata Book Fair 2014which commenced yesterday.The Chief Minister of WestBengal, Ms. MamataBandyopadhyay, was the chiefguest on the occasion. ShriAnadiranjan Biswas, the Pub-lisher/Editor, Baakprotima hasbeen invited for the formal in-

Islander invited inKolkata Book Fair begins

augural session of the fair. Onthis occasion, a copy of ofBaakprotima’s Puja Issue-2013 was handed over to ShriSubroto Mukhopadhyay,Minster (Panchayats & RuralDevelopment), Government ofWest Bengal. ‘Baakprotima’has been allotted with a table(Table No.182) in the LittleMagazine Pavilion of KolkataBook Fair 2014, a communi-cation received here from Mr.Biswas said here today.