Sir,
 
This is regarding the buffer zone: I think it is really good news. At last sense has dawned on the Administration. But what about the ATR that is being widened which, in the initial stage, ought not to have been laid at all? I was and am completely against the ATR. The ferry journey I undertook in 1979 to Mayabunder was quite pleasant and sufficient.
 
I am afraid the MP is wrong in his opinion. His argument that people have been living since penal settlement does not hold much water. The Andamanese (both Great Andamanesse and the Jarawas) have been living there since thousands or even millions of years. If we justify driving out the British, what right do we have to hold on to the Jarawa lands? They dwindled after contacts with the so-called civilisation by getting new diseases.
 
Let the Administration implement the buffer zone. Let us leave the Jarawas to the care of Mother Nature.
 
S. Balakrishnan
Kodambakkam, Chennai