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To

Mr. Chetan B Sanghi, IAS

The Chief Secretary

A & N Administration

Port Blair.

 

Copy to :

The Editor

Andaman Chronicle,

 

Dear Sir,

The biggest impediment to Digital Andaman and most other initiatives of the Administration and even the Govt. of India appears to be B.S.N.L in Andamans.

I came to Andamans in 1967. Even in those days the biggest problems were water, telephones, electricity & shipping. Every year, the LG’s earlier (CC) Republic Day Address etc. will testify to these.

I could not access the Republic /Independence Day address/statements of CS/LG/CC for these years as there were not available with The Daily Telegram office and I did not keep copies .

The same tradition still continues even after fifty years. Earlier, telephones were the problem. Now telephone broadband, mobile internet and even landlines are all problems.

Since it is customary to hold the Head of the Department responsible, I suggest that the CGM, BSNL should be held accountable.

I admit that it is difficult for a person in authority to suddenly do this without admitting that the initial appointment itself was wrong. In a hierarchical organization every person rises to his own level of incompetence, the only alternative is to “kick him upstairs”.  May be promote him to Principal Chief General Manager and post him to planning or the central registry.

I have four land lines that show low voltage and 5 BSNL mobile phones. All land lines are non-ops from 19th May 2020 onwards.  Mobile network is non-ops most of the times even Whatsapps and even text messages fail.  Such a total failure is unprecedented even in A&N Islands.

Now under lock down, most Offices are working with one third of the staff.  Rest are working from home (?) even in absence of internet, telephone and mobiles.

Bank transactions are most affected, no wonder, in case non-ops internet, money deposited in cash or purchase made by Debit/Credit cards etc. 

Businessmen are unable to pay the GST, IT and TDS etc. in a time bound manner keep on paying penalty and interest in default. Even in Digital India of which the islands are a part of, despite the Govt. monopolies like BSNL and the Electricity Department.  I strongly believe that there is some scope of improvement.

SAMIR ACHARYA

Secretary, Society for Andaman & Nicobar Ecology

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This is to bring to your notice the poor standard of First Aid and medical care administered by the Hospital on 12th November 2019.

My son Evan Nazareth works as a Marine Biologist in the Andaman Islands. While on fieldwork on Little Andaman he met with an accident. He slipped and fell on a rock. In the process, he hit his chin heavily on a rock. The local coast guard medical officer sutured his wound and suggested he visit a doctor as soon a possible and have an X-ray done to check for any jaw fractures. The Coast Guard performed as they are trained to without any charges.

The next day Evan returned to the Port Blair by boat. On arriving at Port Blair he visited the GB Pant Hospital at around 5 PM. There he was examined by a Dr. Mina Nasir and Dr. Jai Wiswas at the emergency room and was told to take rest as all was well and he had not suffered any fractures. He was also told X ray shots were not required. They based their diagnosis only on external appearance.

Feeling that something was not right, he flew back to Mumbai on the 13th Nov. After tests and consulting a local physician, it was noted that his mandible was fractured in three places. A seven and a half hour surgery was performed on him, shortly after and three plates fitted to stabilize the Jaw. Evan is now recuperating and will be at home and off work for the next eight weeks.

Sir, I would like the hospital to investigate their department and find out how the Jaw fracture was not detected, although there was misalignment and my son Evan was asked to only take rest and let it heal naturally.

I am sure the problem does not lie only in these two doctors but with the entire system at the hospital.

The Indian Government spends a lot of money to offer medical care to all its citizens obviously your hospital is not using its funds correctly. Nothing can be done to improve Evans condition but please ensure that other patients are not treated in a similar manner in the future.

Further, I see in your website in Specialty Structure that you have listed Orthopaedics as one of your Specialties. Why then was my son not given basic care he deserved when he visited you?

How many local residents have faced a similar fate? In Evan’s case, he was lucky he had means to return to Mumbai for further care.

Capt. Mark Nazareth

9969723603

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Dr. Dinesh

The Andaman Trunk Road (ATR) northward route NH-223 is an amazing stretch of 360 kms journey which connects Port Blair to Diglipur in North Andaman which is riddled with pot holes (large & small),craters causing inconvenience and nightmares to the road users and it is extremely hazardous, rains in the recent past have turned the road virtually into a death trap. Everyday hundreds of vehicles passes through ATR, it is fully dotted with potholes and is dangerous to commute on road, motorists have a Herculean task driving through the stretch, tourists from all over the world come and visit the famous Limestone Caves of Baratang and also the beautiful Ross & Smith Island which has a sand bar joining the two Islands at Diglipur.

Recently an official release from the Prime Minister’s office had given a presentation on the vision for holistic development and had initially proposed to open up more Islands for tourism, seeing the bad road conditions the tourists take bitter memories back home and may effect the tourism potential in the long run. Pregnant ladies, referred patients and those already suffering from back aches who commute through the ATR, it can worsen their problems or medical conditions and moreover the drivers had to strain a lot and they too become fatigue while driving.

There have been frequent instances of minor accidents in the past one week because of break down of vehicles or vehicles gone off road, one can’t blame the driver alone for that, the narrow width of the road with potholes make the driver immensely difficult to maneuver while driving with bus passengers or truck loads of essential commodities and perishable items as ATR is the life line of Middle and North Andamans, sometimes while giving way to incoming vehicles the bus or truck tilt to one side as the brim of the road has been washed away by incessant rain. There is breakdown of spring leaf of vehicle due to bad road conditions, if there is breakdown of vehicles on ATR especially in Jarawa reserve area it is extremely difficult and time consuming to get a mechanic and also a nightmare for the travelers too, till an alternate arrangement are made to bring the passengers. 

Some of the stretches of ATR doesn’t have retaining wall or proper drainage and during rainy season the water gushes to the road and the tarred road is ripped off. Since it is a National Highway proper maintenance of the road is of utmost importance for the safety of passengers, PWD should do the maintenance work on war footing or else more accidents and breakdown of vehicles can happen and the concerned authorities should not wait for a tragedy.

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Letter to the Editor

It was one of the most fearsome nights I had ever experienced in my life while in my residence at CE Office Complex. Since evening, a snake was inside my cupboard resting between clothes. It kept showing up and hid between the apparels in the bottom rack. I thought maybe it would go by itself but at night when I went back to check again, I saw the same snake wrapped around the clothes and very clearly visible.

Not knowing how to deal with the situation, I called my cousin and he immediately came with a Snake Man Shri Mandeep Singh of Forest Department. The snake could not be seen but I was confident it was inside somewhere. It was so kind of the Snake Man Mandeep Singh that even at midnight 12.30, he did not lose his patience and with his expertise, he caught hold of the snake from inside the cupboard and covered it with a cloth.

A man with such a passion of catching snakes helped me out at this hour of need. True passion needs no time to be shown. I am grateful to you Sir. May you continue your work with such dedication and let the islands witness the real hero soon. Thank you and Good luck. 

K. R. Sagarika

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Sir,

Apropos news item in The Andaman Chronicle dated 16 Nov, 2015 wherein we have been given to understand that six speed breakers is proposed to be laid at different places in the city.

While agreeing to the contention that Speed Breakers play an important role in regulating vehicular speed, I intend to draw attention of concerned authorities towards the guideline issued by Indian Road Congress (IRC: 99-1988) specifying the general conditions, scope and detailed specifications for design, plan of placement, sign postings, markings, maintenance and other issues relating to use of speed breakers for Indian road conditions.

It will not be out of place to mention that article 5.1 of the IRC guideline reads: Speed breakers are formed basically by providing a rounded (17m radius) hump of 3.7m width and height of 0.10 m (10cm/4 inch) at the centre for general traffic. The document specifically mentions Speed Breakers should be so designed that it should not cause damage to the vehicle nor cause excessive discomfort to the driver and passengers while crossing a hump at the preferred speed. Neither should a hump give rise to excessive noise or cause harmful vibrations to the adjoining buildings or affect other residents of the area.

Therefore, through the columns of your esteemed daily, I request authorities concerned to ensure that the proposed speed breakers conform to the prescribed design specifications. I also request that other safety features such as Retro-reflective warning sign (40m ahead of speed breaker), marking with (yellow and white) paints, which serve as a visual warning and proper illumination of streets are also taken up.

Debkumar Bhadra

Shore Point, Bambooflat, S Andaman

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