PM asks every Pradhan to take up water conservation measure

Port Blair, June 19: The Prime Minister of India has personally written a letter to all the Pradhans of Gram Panchayat across the country including the Pradhans of A&N Islands with regard to Water Conservation measures to be undertaken during the ensuing monsoon season. The Prime Minister in his letter has called upon every Pradhan to take up water conservation related measure to optimize the shortage of water. In this connection, all the Pradhans will convene a Gram Sabha meeting in the respective Gram Panchayat and carry out the following activities in the Gram Sabha:

1. Read out the Prime Minister's letter to all the residents of the villages(s)

2. Each Gram Sabha convened should be followed by shramdaan for water conservation, as outlined in the Prime Minster' letter. Activities may include.

* Building and cleaning small ponds in the village for storing rainwater.

* Undertaking tree plantation drives.

* Constructing/ installing storage tanks at the community or individual household level for rainwater.

* Creating of soak pits in households for reuse for domestic and agricultural purposes and groundwater recharge.

* Awareness campaigns around water conservation through rallies.

* Village and school-level promotion of rainwater harvesting through Nukkad Nataks/ street plays, folk songs and dance performance.

* Wall paintings in public places on the theme of water conservation and proper management of water.

The respective Dy. Commissioner of the District have been asked to send letter of the Prime Minister to the Pradhans in the District.

In view of this, the Dy. Commissioner, South Andaman District had sent the letter of the Prime Minister to all the Pradhans of South Andaman District and the same has been received by the Pradhans.  To have uniformity in convening the Gram Sabha, all the Pradhans of South Andaman District have been requested to convene the Gram Sabha on 23.06.2019 followed by the activities stated in the letter. A report of the Gram Sabha along with pictures will be submitted to the Dy. Commissioner (SA) on the email ID dcandaman2016@gmail.com. Based on the report and action taken by each Panchayat, best panchayat will be selected for water conservation and management over the oncoming monsoons, a press release said.

Thoratang Bailey Steel Bridge collapsed; Law enforcement agencies is need of the hour

TMI Bureau

Port Blair, June 12: Engineering skills of National Highways Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd. (NHIDCL) exposed after a sudden collapse of Thoratang Bridge (Bailey Steel Bridge) in Middle Andaman at 4.00 pm today.

As per sources, the Thoratang Bridge near Swadesh Nagar connecting Middle Andaman to North Andaman at about 4.00 pm on Wednesday collapsed when the two loaded trucks simultaneously crossing the bridge. Sources further said, at the time of incident both the loaded tippers were over the bridge, while the second truck went down with the bridge the other truck was struck near one end of the bridge. "The bridge was constructed merely five years ago and lack of maintenance was collapsed here today" alleged some citizens. As per reports, both the truck drivers were came out safely from their vehicles and reached shore after the mishap and no any other causalities reported.

The NHIDCL is assigned here to huge development projects for these islands. But, this unexpected incident due to irresponsibility on the part of the authorities largely the National Highways Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd. (NHIDCL) is also raising doubts among islanders upon the lasting and maintenance of the construction works being through NHIDCL.

Authorities of North & Middle Andaman have taken the NHIDCL authorities to task for the loss and inconvenience caused to the general public. A team of NHIDCL officers has proceeded to the spot to inspect the damage to the bridge.

Citizens’ Corner 13/06/2019

* There is proposal on move by A&N Administration that, the Govt. Press is likely to shift to some other place within the Municipal area. Govt. Press was an oldest structure and establishment of the British times in the Islands.

* Traffic has become a major menace in the city, especially between Clock Tower and Ganesh Temple. The vehicles (Auto-rickshaws, personal four-wheeler vehicles) which are often seen waiting for U-Turns by jamming and disturbing the smooth flow of traffic, which causes unnecessary trouble for even pedestrian. The A&N Traffic Police bosses must look into the issue.

* Beside working on water stagnation in city, this Monsoon bring another duty to our Port Blair Municipal Council is that, the Footpaths in all Wards is becoming slippery and increasing risk for Footpath users. Timely precautions by PBMC as spreading bleach to oxidize footpath during Monsoon.

'Live - Phone Public Hearing' by Lt. Governor; Citizens may submit their representations; grievances to LG

Port Blair, June 12: The session of Live - Phone Public Hearing by Admiral D K Joshi, the Lt. Governor, A&N Islands and Vice-Chairman, Islands Development Agency at Raj Niwas, wherein the applicants can appraise their grievances directly to the  Lt. Governor.

The citizens wishing to project their grievances to the Lt. Governor may submit their representations (alongwith supporting documents) at any time convenient to them through following mechanism:

1. Delivery by hand to Raj Niwas Gate (receipt will be provided), or

2. On email ID : lg.and@nic.in, or

3. Fax No: 03192-230372, or

4. By post/ courier.

The grievances received will be taken up on the date of Live - Phone Public Hearing, which will be communicated through subsequent press releases. Applicants have been requested to help LG's Secretariat to reach to them by mentioning verifiable contact number and address, along with copy of valid identity card.

A&N Police constitutes 'Special Task Force' to curb menace of Ganja

Port Blair, June 12: In continuation of its efforts to curb the menace of Ganja and other Narcotic & Psychotropic Substances, A&N Police has constituted four 'Special Task Forces' in three districts and CID to reign in the sale, distribution & consumption of Ganja and other narcotic & psychotropic substances.

Also, capacity building of these teams, for detection and investigation, will be carried out in coordination with State Legal Service Authority (SLSA) to ensure fool proof investigation and collection of evidence.

A&N Police is determined to remove the scourge of Narcotic and Psychotropic substances from these islands and the formation of Special Task Forces is a step in this direction, the SP, SA District communique said.

South Andaman Police arrests one from mainland for committing cheating

Port Blair, June 12: A team of Police Station Aberdeen has solved a case of cheating and arrested one person at Delhi.

On 07/04/2015, a complaint was received at PS Aberdeen regarding cheating of an amount of Rs.89,000 and accordingly a case of cheating was registered at PS Aberdeen. During the course of investigation, the bank details of the accused person were obtained and revealed his name as Nitin Kumar Vaid S/o Sunil Kumar Vaid R/o Delhi.

Thus, a team comprising SI Dinesh Meena, HC M. Shyam, PCs Prasant Deep Dung Dung & Ujjwal Pandey under the direction of Inspr. Sanjay Kumar, SHO PS Aberdeen and overall supervision of Shri Nishant Gupta, SDPO (S/A) was formed and sent to Delhi. After extensive efforts, the team succeeded in locating the accused Nitin Kumar Vaid who accepted his guilt. The accused person was arrested by Police and brought to Port Blair. He was produced before the Hon'ble Court, from where he was sent to judicial custody.