VOL: 35 n ISSUE: 17-18 n FRIDAY n 28 OCTOBER 2011 PORT BLAIR n Rs. 5.00 n PAGES 8 n RNI No. 28480/75

POSTAL REGN NO. PBLRNP/08/2008-2010www.lightofandamans.blogspot.com

NCRB Statistics: ANI on Third Position in Suicides .................... 2

Interview: Capt Seshasai: Captain of the Sinking Ship ............ 4

Pauper’s Log: Teen Bikers: Insanity is Macho ........................... 5

Editorial: Advani’s Visit and BJP .................................................. 6

Mail Box: A Stagnant Revenue Department ................................ 6

Sacred Space: Mother’s Sacrifice ................................................. 6

Your Space: The Early Boat ........................................................... 7

Chalte Chalte: The Press Express .................................................. 8INTERVIEW: Capt. Seshasai, Director, Shipping Services

Flouting General Finance Rules is a way of life at Directorate of Shipping. Withinappropriate purchases amounting to lakhs of rupees, dumping all regulations,

with an excuse of uninterrupted service, DSS is sailing on a sinking ship.

Directorate of Shipping Services: Black Hole of Corruption

2 |isles|NEWS THE LIGHT OF ANDAMANS, Port Blair 28 OCTOBER 2011

Fifteen suicides take placeevery hour in India and amajority (69.2 per cent) of

the suicide victims are marriedwhile 30.8 per cent un-married,according to latest governmentstatistics.

Sikkim reported the highestrate of suicide (45.9) followedby Puducherry (45.5),Andaman and Nicobar Islands(36.1), Kerala (24.6) andChhattisgarh (26.6).

One suicide out of every 5 iscommitted by a housewife, saidthe statistics released today inthe form of a report.

"It is observed that social andeconomic causes have led mostof the males to commit suicidewhereas emotional and person-al causes have mainly drivenfemales to end their lives," thereport, released by HomeMinister P Chidambaram, said.

41.1 per of suicide victimswere self employed while only

7.5 per were un-employed.More than one lakh persons

(1,34,599) in the country losttheir lives by committing sui-cide during the year 2010 andnearly 70.5 per cent of the sui-

cide victims were marriedmales while 67.0 per cent weremarried females, according tothe report of the National CrimeRecord Bureau for 2010.

Kerala, Tamil Nadu,Karnataka Maharashtra andAndhra Pradesh accounted for65.8 per cent of suicide victims

in the age group 60 years andabove.

Suicides because of 'familyproblems' (23.7 per cent) and'illness' (21.0 per cent) com-bined accounted for 44.7 per

cent of total suicides, said thereport.

The percentage of suicidesdue to 'property dispute' and'death of dear person' showed arelatively higher increase of48.0 per cent and 28.9 per centrespectively.

The overall male:female ratio

of suicide victims for the year2009 was 65:35. However, theproportion of boys:girls suicidevictims (upto 14 years of age)was 52:48.

26.3 per cent of the suicidevictims were primary educatedand 22.7 per cent were middleeducated while 19.8 per cent ofvictims of suicide were illiter-ate, the statistics showed.

Government servants were1.4 per cent of the total suicidevictims.

West Bengal (11.9 per cent),Andhra Pradesh (11.8 percent), Tamil Nadu (12.3 percent), Maharashtra (11.8 percent) and Karnataka (9.4 percent) contributed 57.2 per centof total suicide victims.

West Bengal has reported thehighest number of suicide vic-tims (accounting for 11.9 percent) in 2008 and 2009 and sec-ond highest in 2010 (account-ing for 11.9 per cent).

NCRB Releases Suicide StatisticsANI on Third Position

"It is observed that social and economiccauses have led most of the males to

commit suicide whereas emotional andpersonal causes have mainly driven

females to end their lives,"

Southern states AndhraPradesh, Karnataka, Kerala andTamil Nadu and Maharashtrahave accounted for 51.7 percent of total suicides reportedin the country.

Sikkim and Puducherry hadreported 45.9 and 45.5 respec-tively suicidal deaths per onelakh of population as againstthe national average of 11.4.

Besides, more than 55.9 percent children suicide victimsbelonged to five states –Madhya Pradesh, AndhraPradesh, West Bengal,Karnataka and Tamil Nadu--out of 3,130 suicide victims.

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3 |cover|STORY THE LIGHT OF ANDAMANS, Port Blair 28 OCTOBER 2011

Flouting GeneralFinance Rules is away of life atDirectorate ofShipping. Withinappropriate pur-chases amountingto lakhs of rupees,dumping all regu-lations, with anexcuse of uninter-rupted service,DSS is sailing on asinking ship.

BYZUBAIRAHMED

The Directorate ofShipping has a disgracefulhistory of corruption andnepotism since ages.Mired in various corrup-

tion charges and many failedexperiments with the setup, it hasmiserably failed in meeting thedemands of the commuters too.

Flouting all the rules of procure-ment of goods and services men-tioned in the GFR, the depart-ment has been on a purchasingspree without any reason. Anti-corruption raids are not new tothe department. However, theygo scot free where it is very easy toconvince or confuse quoting thetechnical aspects. Moreover, inthe garb of providing non-stopservice, it prefers to procurespares from the local market,whereas, the workshop staff findsit a bit hard to digest.

Recently corruption chargeswere leveled against DSS officialsby a fortnightly and the ant-cor-ruption unit also raided the prem-ises. Nothing has happenedthereafter.

The charges cannot be justbrushed off as even after purchas-es amounting to lakhs of rupees,the presumed results are not visi-ble in the service. Moreover, a fewexpensive parts procured by thedepartment are unjustifiable.

The crankshaft of MVPilobhabi, a vehicle ferry plyingbetween Bambooflat andChatham, which had resumedservice after a long span of main-tenance, was found defective and

had to be replaced. A purchaseorder was placed with MomaniDiesels, who claims to be anauthorized dealer for Kirloskarproducts. The crankshaft was pur-chased for a cost of Rs 2362000/-. However, the workshop staffclaims that the vendor is not anauthorized dealer for Crankshaft(W8V) series, an expensive andprecision part. One of the allega-tions is that the part is available onDGS&D rate at the cost of Rs 18Lakhs and the department failedto procure it even after placing anorder in November 2008. "Wecannot wait such a long period, asthe services will come to a halt,"said Capt Seshasai, Director, DSS.He said that a committee was con-stituted and decided that to sus-tain services, parts can be pur-chased locally. On the other hand,this excuse has been exploited tomake purchases from local ven-dors on exorbitant prices, where itis alleged that the booty is sharedamong the top echelon. Thecrankshaft is a proprietary item,for which OEM Guarantee certifi-cate has to be produced which isnot done in this case. It is alsoalleged that the recycledCrankshaft was purchased for thecost of Rs 85000/- from Chennaiby the Vendor.

The order was placed on 7thJuly 2010 and was delivered on22 June 2011. An inspection com-mittee is in place to check the partand authorize it. The Inspectionof the part was also completed onthe same day and the amount ofRs 2,74,0150/- by Cheque No.139984 was issued to the vendoron 6 July 2011. The urgency incompleting the Inspection is also

being raised by the Workshopstaff. When it was opened by theshop staff, it was found to be aused one with defects. The staffobjected to fit the same. But, it islearnt that one of the Asst MarineEngineer forced them to fit it."From the look itself, one can findout whether it was a used one or anew piece, but, how come it wasoverlooked by the InspectionCommittee," a staff told LOA.When asked, Capt Seshasaiagreed that the part was a usedone and the vendor has beenasked to replace it. But, when con-tacted CJ Anthony, ProcurementOfficer told LOA that the part wasnot a recycled one, but defective.He also told that the InspectionCommittee only does preliminaryinspection and the defect will onlybe seen when it is fitted. The staffhowever disagrees and says thatwhen we can easily identify a newone from a used one, how comethe committee is incapable? Everyproprietary item has a serial num-ber embedded and same men-tioned in the OEM certificate.How this aspect was overlookedby the Inspection Committeepoints to a major racket inside theDSS in connivance with the topechelon. The Procurement Officeralso needs to do lot of explainingas how he released part paymentto the vendor when the completepurchase order, which includedCrankshaft(W4V) and FreshWater Pump, was for Rs49,97,677/-

Without the approval of compe-tent authority, making purchaseof a proprietary item, the openinfringement of GFR rules are theway of life at DSS, where the

Director has no power.Subsequently, on a complaint,

Anti-corruption wing raided thepremises and were on the verge offiling FIR. In the meantime, therewas an attempt to even shift thecrankshaft from the workshop tothe vendor's shop. It was effective-ly blocked with the interventionof some staff, who informed theAnti-corruption wing. TheDirector was not in the station andwhen he came back, he met theAnti-corruption officials and whatconspired at the higher level is amystery and the issue is pushedunder the carpet.

Another allegation is about thepurchase of two gearboxes for thevessel Maina, which has beenlying dead since long time. Thegearboxes procured locally at acost of Rs 917719/- each wasfound to be unfit for the vessel.The GFR rule no 137 (i) clearlypoints out that the specification interms of quality, type etc., as alsoquantity of goods to be procuredshould be clearly spelt out keep-ing in view the specific needs.." Inthis case, the need was for a gear-box with ratio of 4:1 and in thepurchase order, the ratio men-tioned is 3:1. Another wastefulexpenditure indeed. But, CaptSeshasai disagreed and said thatthere are many vessels with DSSand the gearbox can be used insome other boat. How come suchmistakes creep in when there issufficient technical staff. Floutingthe GFR on one hand and claim-ing that senseless purchasesinvolving huge amount is not anissue that can be easily rebuffed. Itis once again blamed on tsunami.Capt Seshasai said that most of

the documents pertaining to thevessels were lost or destroyed intsunami. So they had to guess themodel no. and procure it.Moreover, it was not certified byIndian Registrar of Shipping(IRS).

Same is the case with the pur-chase of cylinder heads forengines. About 16 Cylinder Headswere procured, which were alsoinappropriate and is lying withoutserving any purpose.

The most blatant instance ofcorruption is in the purchase ofDigital Microwave FrequencyCounter, bench instrument pro-cured at a whopping cost of Rs17,15,117/-. The workshop staffinformed LOA that the electronicinstrument of APLAB make is aunique item as there is no refer-ence to such an item anywhere onthe website of the manufacturer.The costliest MicrowaveFrequency Counter manufac-tured by APLAB is approximatelyRs 60,000/- There is more thanone discrepancy in the purchaseorder itself. The variation in thestore requisition date and the quo-tation date itself points to foulplay. The requisition date is 29July 2010 whereas the quotationdate of the supplier is 14 May2010. When asked about the vari-ation, I got two different answersfrom the Director and theProcurement Officer. TheDirector said that it was an annualrate contract whereas theProcurement Officer told thatthere is a mistake in the date.

When asked the exorbitant costof the equipment, C J Anthony,Procurement Officer told LOAthat it was an open tender andthey had no idea about the cost ofthe instrument, as it was the firsttime, this particular equipmentwas purchased. Whereas the GFRin Rule 137(iv) says that theprocuring authority should satisfyitself that the price of the selectedoffer is reasonable and consistentwith the quality required.Procuring such expensive equip-ment without any market surveyshows the vice motive behind it.The Procurement Officer has noidea about the cost of the equip-ment and accepted the lowest ofthe two qualifying quotations.

Furthermore, it is learnt that abill of Rs 3 Lakhs was sent by theDirector to the master of a vesselfor endorsement for painting ofthe vessel. The master wasshocked to see the bill as no paint-ing work had been carried out onthe boat. He was in a dilemmawhether to put his initials as hewill be in a soup. Finally, the direc-tor had his way.

The way the Department offi-cials are draining the exchequeron one hand and empty promisesof better service on the otherhand, prompt service will alwaysremain a pipedream for thegullible Islanders.

Directorate of Shipping Services:Black Hole of Corruption

4 |cover|STORY THE LIGHT OF ANDAMANS, Port Blair 28 OCTOBER 2011

BYZUBAIRAHMED

CCaapptt SSeesshhaassaaii''ss pprroommiisseessttoo bbrriinngg ssaanniittyy ttoo aaddeeppaarrttmmeenntt hhaavvee ggoonneehhaayywwiirree.. FFrroomm oonneeddiirreeccttoorr ttoo tthhrreeee ddiirreecc--

ttoorrss aanndd aaggaaiinn bbaacckk ttoo oonnee ddiirreecc--ttoorr,, wwhhyy tthhee eexxppeerriimmeennttss hhaavveemmiisseerraabbllyy ffaaiilleedd,, wwiitthh tthhee sseerrvviicceesseevveerreellyy hhiittttiinngg rroocckk bboottttoomm.. IInntthhee mmeeaannttiimmee,, ccoorrrruuppttiioonn ccoonn--ttiinnuueess uunnaabbaatteedd,, aaccccoorrddiinngg ttooiinnssiiddeerrss.. OOnnllyy tthhee mmooddaalliittiieess aannddtthhee bbeenneeffiicciiaarriieess hhaavvee cchhaannggeedd..

PPaauull JJaammeess wwaass aann eenniiggmmaa aasstthhee ddiirreeccttoorr ooff sshhiippppiinngg sseerrvviicceess..TThheerree wweerree wwiilldd aalllleeggaattiioonnss ooffrraammppaanntt ccoorrrruuppttiioonn iinn tthheeddeeppaarrttmmeenntt dduurriinngg hhiiss tteennuurree.. IIttwwaass aallssoo aalllleeggeedd tthhaatt hhee hhaadd sseetthhiiss hhoouussee oonn ffiirree hhiimmsseellff ttoo aavvooiiddrreeccoovveerryy ooff iinnccrriimmiinnaattiinngg ddooccuu--mmeennttss.. BBuutt eevveerryytthhiinngg iiss uunnddeerr aatthhiicckk vveeiill ooff sseeccrreeccyy.. TThheerree wweerreeCCBBII rraaiiddss iinn tthhee ooffffiicceess ooff tthheeddiirreeccttoorr.. TThhee nneett rreessuulltt ooff tthhiisseennttiirree hhuullllaabbaalloooo wwaass tthhaatt tthheeaaddmmiinniissttrraattiioonn wweenntt oonn tthheeddeeffeennssiivvee.. IItt wwoorrkkeedd oovveerrttiimmee ttooddeevviissee wwaayyss aanndd mmeeaannss ttoo cchheecckkccoorrrruuppttiioonn iinn sshhiippppiinngg ddeeppaarrtt--mmeenntt.. TToo eexxoorrcciissee tthhee gghhoosstt ooffCCddrr.. PPaauull JJaammeess;; tthhee aaddmmiinniissttrraa--ttiioonn,, iinn iittss wwiissddoomm,, ttuurrnneedd iitt iinnttoo

aa hhyyddrraa--hheeaaddeedd bbooddyy bbuutt tthhaattddiidd nnoott hheellpp mmaatttteerrss eeiitthheerr..

TThhee DDAANNIICCSS lloobbbbyy hhaadd ffoouunnddaann eexxcceelllleenntt cchhaannccee ttoo ppuusshh oonneeooff iittss oowwnn iinnttoo tthhee ccuusshhyy jjoobb aassDDiirreeccttoorr ((AAddmmiinniissttrraattiioonn)) wwiitthhaann aaiirr--ccoonnddiittiioonneedd ccaabbiinn ffuurr--nniisshheedd aatt aa ccoosstt ooff RRss 1100 llaakkhhss,, iittiiss aalllleeggeedd.. AAnnootthheerr ccaabbiinn ((nnaattuu--rraallllyy aaiirr--ccoonnddiittiioonneedd)) wwaass rreeaadd--iieedd ffoorr tthhee PPrriinncciippaall DDiirreeccttoorr..TThhee SSeeccrreettaarryy ((SShhiippppiinngg)) ddoouu--bblleedd aass tthhee PPrriinncciippaall DDiirreeccttoorraallssoo.. HHee,, eevveenn ootthheerrwwiissee ccoouullddhhaavvee hhaadd aa ttiigghhtt lleeaasshh oonn tthheeddeeppaarrttmmeenntt iinn hhiiss ccaappaacciittyy aassSSeeccrreettaarryy ((SShhiippppiinngg)).. TThhee tthhiirrddoonnee,, DDiirreeccttoorr ((OOppeerraattiioonnss)) wwaassaaggaaiinn ffrroomm tthhee IInnddiiaann NNaavvyy.. HHeewwaass tthhee mmaann rreessppoonnssiibbllee ffoorraaccttuuaallllyy pprroovviiddiinngg sseerrvviicceess ttoo tthheeppeeooppllee ooff tthhee iissllaannddss aanndd rruunn tthheevveesssseellss iinn tthhee sseeaa.. HHee wwaass iinn--cchhaarrggee ooff OOppeerraattiioonnss aannddMMaaiinntteennaannccee,, tthhee ttwwoo mmoosstt vviittaallaarrmmss ooff tthhee ddeeppaarrttmmeenntt.. HHee wwaasstthhee ppuubblliicc ffaaccee ooff tthhee ddeeppaarrtt--mmeenntt wwhhoo ggeettss aallll tthhee ffllaakkss ffoorrsshhoorrttaaggee ooff vveesssseellss,, sscchheedduulleessggooiinngg aawwrryy aanndd aannggrryy mmoobbssrraaiiddiinngg hhiiss ooffffiiccee wwhheenneevveerr tthheerreewwaass aa ddiissllooccaattiioonn.. HHee hhoowweevveerr,,ssaatt iinn aa ssppaarrsseellyy ffuurrnniisshheedd nnoonn--aaiirr--ccoonnddiittiioonneedd ccaabbiinn oonn tthheeggrroouunndd fflloooorr ooff aa ssiinnggllee ssttoorreeyy

bbuuiillddiinngg nneeaarr MMaarriinnee GGaattee..AAfftteerr aa ccoouuppllee ooff yyeeaarrss wwhheenn

tthhee ttoopp hheeaavvyy ddeeppaarrttmmeenntt ffaaiilleeddttoo ddeelliivveerr,, eevveenn tthhoouugghh ccoorrrruupp--ttiioonn ttoo aann eexxtteenntt wwaass bbrroouugghhtt

uunnddeerr ccoonnttrrooll,, tthhee nneexxuuss ooff mmaass--tteerr--eennggiinneeeerr--ccrreeww ttooookk oovveerr aannddbbrroouugghhtt tthhee ddeeppaarrttmmeenntt ttoo iittsskknneeeess.. MMoorreeoovveerr,, eevveerryy ooffffiicceerrllooookkeedd oovveerr hhiiss sshhoouullddeerr bbeeffoorree

ppuuttttiinngg hhiiss ssiiggnnaattuurree oonn aa ppaappeerr..TThheessee kknneeee--jjeerrkk aaccttiioonnss ttoo mmaaiinn--ttaaiinn aa sseemmbbllaannccee ooff ssaanniittyy ddiiddnnoott wwoorrkk.. FFiinnaallllyy,, tthhee eexxppeerrii--mmeenntt hhaadd ttoo bbee ddrrooppppeedd..

WWhheenn CCaappttaaiinn SSeesshhaassaaii jjooiinneeddtthhee SShhiippppiinngg DDiirreeccttoorraattee,, hhee ttoooowwaass oonnee ooff tthhee tthhrreeee DDiirreeccttoorrssaanndd aassssiiggnneedd OOppeerraattiioonnss aannddMMaaiinntteennaannccee.. AAnnyywwaayy,, hhee wwaassnnoott kkeeeenn ttoo ccoonnttiinnuuee aass ''oonnee oofftthhee DDiirreeccttoorrss'' aanndd hhaadd ttoolldd LLOOAAaatt tthhaatt ttiimmee tthhaatt wwiitthhoouutt ccoomm--pplleettee ccoonnttrrooll,, hhee wwoouulldd nnoott bbee iinnaa ppoossiittiioonn ttoo bbrriinngg aannyy ppoossiittiivveecchhaannggee ttoo tthhee ddeeppaarrttmmeenntt.. HHeewwaass ggiivveenn ccoommpplleettee ccoonnttrrooll aasstthhee wwhhoollee aanndd ssoollee DDiirreeccttoorr.. LLiikkeeaannyy tteennddeerrffoooott,, hhee ttoooo sshhoowweeddaallll iiddiioossyynnccrraassiieess iinn tthhee iinniittiiaallppeerriioodd.. IInn bbooiilleerr ssuuiitt,, hhee wwaassffoouunndd iinn tthhee ddoocckkyyaarrdd eeaarrllyymmoorrnniinnggss aass aa ttiimmeekkeeeeppeerr.. BByytthhee ttiimmee,, hhee ccoouulldd uunnddeerrssttaannddtthhee wwoorrkk ccuullttuurree ooff hhiiss eemmppllooyy--eeeess;; hhee hhaadd oobbvviioouussllyy lleeaarrnntt tthheewwaayyss ttoo ccoonnssoolliiddaattee hhiiss ggrriipp oonntthhee ccaasshh--rriicchh ddeeppaarrttmmeenntt.. WWiitthhaa llaarrggee fflleeeett ooff ssiicckk vveesssseellss,,uunnaabbllee ttoo ddeeccoommmmiissssiioonn oorrmmaakkee ooppeerraattiioonnaall,, hhee ffoouunndd iitt aattoouugghh ggoo.. NNeeww vveesssseellss jjooiinneedd,,bbuutt ccoouulldd nnoott ccoovveerr tthhee ddeemmaanndd..TThhee oonnuuss oonnccee aaggaaiinn ffeellll oonn tthheewwhhoollee aanndd ssoollee ddiirreeccttoorr ttooeexxppllaaiinn.. HHee hhaadd bbyy nnooww lleeaarrnntthhooww ttoo ddooddggee tthhee ccoommppllaaiinnttss..TTeecchhnniiccaallllyy,, hhee wwoouulldd ttrryy ttoo ccoonn--vviinnccee oorr uullttiimmaatteellyy ccoonnffuussee tthhoosseewwhhoo wweenntt ttoo hhiimm wwiitthh ccoomm--ppllaaiinnttss..

CCaapptt SSeesshhaassaaii ddiidd ddooddggeeppooiinntteedd qquueessttiioonnss bbyy eexxppllaaiinniinnggtthhiinnggss tteecchhnniiccaallllyy.. BBuutt,, hhee ccoouullddnnoott ccoonnvviinnccee tthhee ffiinnaanncciiaall mmiiss--aapppprroopprriiaattiioonnss aanndd pprroocceedduurraallllaappsseess lleeaaddiinngg ttoo ddrraaiinn ooff ppuubblliicceexxcchheeqquueerr..

Captain of the Sinking Ship

TThheerree wwaass aa rraaiidd bbyy aannttii--ccoorrrruuppttiioonn wwiinngg iinn tthheessttoorreess rreecceennttllyy oonn cchhaarrggeessooff rraammppaanntt ccoorrrruuppttiioonn iinnppuurrcchhaasseess iinn tthhee ddeeppaarrtt--

mmeenntt.. PPuurrcchhaassee ooff ccrraannkksshhaafftt,,ccyylliinnddeerr hheeaaddss,, ggeeaarr bbooxxeess aanndd aaddiiggiittaall mmiiccrroowwaavvee ffrreeqquueennccyyccoouunntteerr..

I am also aware of the issue. Itneeds to be clarified. The crank-shaft of MV Pilobhabi had to bereplaced. The department placedan order with Momani Diesels on7th July 2010. It was supplied on22 June 2011. When the packagewas opened by the shop staff atthe dockyard, they found it to be

second-hand or used one andrejected it. We informed the deal-er to replace the crankshaft.Moreover, all the orders placedwith the dealer have been held inabeyance. We are planning toblacklist the dealer. However, it isthe responsibility of the dealer toreplace the part.

HHooww ccoommee tthhee mmaatttteerr wwaassoovveerrllooookkeedd bbyy tthhee IInnssppeeccttiioonnCCoommmmiitttteeee??

Crank-shaft is a precision part,which is packaged in grease andboiled oil. The part is removedfrom packaging only when it hasto be fitted. The issue came to

light when it was unpacked andcleaned for fitting on the engine.

WWhheenn tthhee ssppaarree ppaarrtt iiss aavvaaiillaabblleeffrroomm DDGGSS&&DD,, wwhhyy ddiidd yyoouu ggoo ffoorrllooccaall ppuurrcchhaassee??

We had placed the order withDGS&D in 2008. But, till now, wehave not received the part, whichis one of the main parts of theengine. With the delay, the servic-es are affected. So, we decided toplace the order locally.

AAnndd yyoouu wweerree cchheeaatteedd bbyy tthheeddeeaalleerr??

Yes. We will take punitiveaction against the dealer.

WWhhaatt aabboouutt tthhee ggeeaarrbbooxx mmeeaannttffoorr MMaaiinnaa?? AAnndd tthhee ccyylliinnddeerrhheeaaddss,, wwhhiicchh aarree llyyiinngg iiddllee??

Look, we have many boats withdifferent requirements. If thegearbox does not suit a specificboat, we can use it in other boats.The gearbox supplied by the ten-derer was not matching the boatengine. In tsunami, the docu-ments of many ships went miss-ing. It was difficult for us to iden-tify the exact part. With much dif-ficulty we could procure manyparts and sometimes, if it doesn'tmatch one boat, it will surelymatch other.

TThhee DDiiggiittaall MMiiccrroowwaavveeFFrreeqquueennccyy CCoouunntteerr wwaass ppuurr--cchhaasseedd ffoorr aa wwhhooppppiinngg aammoouunntt ooffRRss 1177 llaakkhhss?? IItt iiss aalllleeggeedd tthhaatt tthheeeelleeccttrroonniicc iitteemm iiss aavvaaiillaabbllee ffoorr ffaarrlleessss pprriiccee??

I am not aware of the details. Iwill check it. Anyway, it was anopen tender, where we have gonewith the lowest quote.

AAPPLLAABB,, tthhee mmaannuuffaaccttuurreerr ddooeessnnoott hhaavvee tthhee mmooddeell mmeennttiioonneedd iinntthhee PPuurrcchhaassee OOrrddeerr aanndd tthheerree iiss aammiissmmaattcchh iinn ddaatteess ttoooo.. TThhee qquuoottaa--ttiioonn ddaattee iiss 1144--0055--22001100 wwhheerreeaasstthhee ssttoorree rreeqquuiissiittiioonn ddaattee iiss 2299--0077--22001100..

Capt Seshasai, Director, ShippingServices did dodge pointed ques-tions by explaining things technical-ly. But, he could not convince thefinancial misappropriations and pro-cedural lapses leading to rampantcorruption.

INTERVIEW: Capt Seshasai, Director, Shipping Services

Capt Seshasai was given complete controlas the whole and sole Director. Like any

tenderfoot, he too showed all idiosyncrasiesin the initial period. In boiler suit, he wasfound in the dockyard early mornings as atimekeeper. By the time, he could under-

stand the work culture of his employees; hehad obviously learnt the ways to consoli-date his grip on the cash-rich department.

5 |cover|STORY THE LIGHT OF ANDAMANS, Port Blair 28 OCTOBER 2011

Teen Bikers: Insanity is Macho

PAUPER’S LOG |ABU ARSH

Earlier this year nearNetajee Stadium, a youngboy in his teens met with a

fatal accident while trying astunt maneuver on a bike. Thistragic incident took two lives.One of the boys was a fifteenyear old and his friend abouttwenty odd years old. Theseboys were aping stunts per-formed in a reality show on atelevision channel sponsoredby a leading Bike brand. It wasa tragedy which could easilyhave been avoided if the boys'parents had kept a tab on theactivities of their wards. Forpeople who knew this inno-cent young teenager, it was ashock that has been hard to getover with. His father was onsailing most of the time and hewas under the control of hismother. Darling of a dotingmother being the only son asthe younger sibling is a daugh-ter. One fine dawn whenschool was to reopen in a fewdays after vacation, his grandparents were to arrive frommainland; the young teenagertook the keys of his dad's bikefrom his mother on the pretextof going for morning prayers.His bike won't start, but theboy pushed it down a slopeand after some trouble it final-ly did start. He went straight towhere his senior friend waswaiting and they started theirstunts at break neck speed.Finally they decided that bothof them would come fromopposite directions at topspeed and brake facing eachother using front brakes whichwill lift the rear end of theirbikes off the road as shown onTV. The stunt failed and theend result was twisted metal,burnt rubber, crushed bones,shredded muscles and disfig-ured faces with one of themspot dead. The teenagerexpired on reaching GB Panthospital. His mother was lostwith remorse and thoughts ofguilt for letting her lone son goaway in this manner.

Every year 100's of kids per-ish in road accidents owing torash driving. Islanders alsosuffer from a syndrome wherekids flaunt their parent'swealth and status. Parentsprovide them with bikes andcars, latest smart phones,gaming consoles and sendthem for tuitions even for artand crafts. Kids are alwaysaway from home rushing from

one tuition to another. Life isfast paced and everyone'sbusy; young kids who are notof a legal age to drive are pro-vided with two wheelers toattend tuition classes. Thesekids mature before others inpicking up vices, be it ridingvehicles at top speeds or pick-ing up fights over trivial mat-ters. All the while thinkinginsanity is macho. Theyassume girls are impressed byguys who burn rubber on theroad, flash latest androids,dress branded apparel, playviolent video games, smoke afag and talk slang. Thoughpapa has bought them a latestmodel helmet, it is not chic toput them on while riding abike. Helmet hinders theseyoung guns's vision, spoilstheir hairdo and obstructs theview of the onlooker of theirhandsome faces. It is alsoinconvenient when answeringthe frequent phone calls theyreceive while on the move. Forall this traffic violation andmore, traffic policeman unclewould not book them either astheir dad is known to all.

Our Islands do not haveenough land mass whereroads can be built which are ofsuch length or width as in bigcities. Due to undulatingtopography roads curve everyfew meters and the gradientalso varies with steep inclinesor slopes. Port Blair has lackedbasic planning since ages,building set backs are insuffi-cient, hawkers/shopsencroach on footpaths, everincreasing no of vehicles,parked vehicles on road sidespaces- make the roads nar-rower for moving motorists.Traffic sense among motoristsof private or public transportand pedestrians is non-exis-tent creating further chaos. Inconditions like these theyoung teenagers with no mas-tery over machine go all outtrying to create a stunt specta-cle; this is extremely danger-ous for the rider, pillion,pedestrians or hawkers.Parents need to stop theirwards from this indulgenceuntil they arrive at a legal ageto drive a vehicle sensibly.Road safety rules and regula-tion lessons are to be mademandatory for kids at an earlyage. Our roads need to be saferfor all; we parents can assurethis for our wards.

I am not sure about the modeland the electronic equipmentpurchased. I will look into thematter. However, I think we hadcalled for annual rate contract forthe product. That's the reason thequotation date is prior to the req-uisition date.

IItt iiss aallssoo aalllleeggeedd tthhaatt tthheerree wwaassnnoo IIRRSS cceerrttiiffiiccaattiioonn ffoorr tthhee ssppaarreessppuurrcchhaasseedd??

The process of IRS certificationdelays everything. However it isthe responsibility of the supplierto get the IRS certification.

WWhhyy aarree ssuucchh aalllleeggaattiioonnss ccrroopp--ppiinngg uupp nnooww?? DDooeess tthhee ssmmookkeessuuggggeesstt ffiirree ssoommeewwhheerree??

I cannot say anything about it.But, my own staff is making suchallegations. There might be someheartburn among them.

OOnn tthhee sseerrvviiccee ffrroonntt,, yyoouu hhaavveeffaaiilleedd mmiisseerraabbllyy,, uunnaabbllee ttoo mmeeeetttthhee ddeemmaannddss ooff tthhee ccoommmmuutteerrss??

State-owned and state-runservice industry is not a viableoption. The operating costs arevery high. With the kind of atti-tude of the staff as well as thestate of the fleet, we will bealways lacking on that front. Mostof the boats berthed here are veryold. It is difficult to procure sparesfor most of them. If I could havemy way, I would have decommis-sioned most of the boats lyingidle.

When I joined in 2008, almost70% vessels were non-opera-tional. Now, about 50% of vesselsare operational. There are manyother factors also for the poor per-formance. Even if a boat getsready for seagoing, due to docu-mentation, it will have to wait.There is no MMD surveyor sta-tioned in the Islands for last oneyear.

MMaannyy nneeww vveesssseellss hhaavvee aallssoojjooiinneedd??

Eleven new vessels have joinedthe fleet after I took charge. Thereis a severe shortage of administra-tive officers and staff to regulatethe man onboard. Since 1986,there has been no recruitment inthis department. Naturally, thequality will suffer.

WWee hhaavvee bbeeeenn hheeaarriinngg aabboouuttMMVV CCaammppbbeellll BBaayy jjooiinniinngg tthheefflleeeett iinn aatt lleeaasstt tthhrreeeeIInnddeeppeennddeennccee DDaayy ssppeeeecchheess.. IIss iittccoommiinngg tthhiiss ttiimmee??

Yes, our crew has already left tobring the vessel. But, there are afew hiccups. ABG Shipyard hasinformed us that they would liketo get all documentation workdone here after it reaches PortBlair. In fact, we want the vessel tobe put into operation as soon as itreaches here. The builder had toface many issues. The MV Act wasamended many times. In 2010, itwas made mandatory for ships tobe equipped with Recoverable

Voice Data Recorders like theblack box on flights. It is manda-tory as per the latest amendmentsto the Marine Pollution (MAR-POL). In 2010, there were otheramendments, which required theequipment to be upgraded andintegrated to the system. It wasnot possible to get the latest addi-tions integrated. And, without themodifications, the ship would notget clearance. Moreover, therewere issues with the lifeboat also.They had to redo the whole thing.The issues have been resolvednow. It will join soon.

WWhhaatt hhaappppeenneedd ttoo tthhee pprrooppoossaallooff wweett--lleeaassee ooff vveehhiiccllee ffeerrrriieess??

Last week, the papers havebeen sent to the Ministry forapproval.

WWhhaatt iiss tthhee ssttaattuuss ooff SShhiippppiinnggCCoorrppoorraattiioonn ffoorr tthhee IIssllaannddss??

It won't be ShippingCorporation anymore. TheAdministration is planning tohave Andaman NicobarIntegrated TransportCorporation, which will coversea, land and air transport. Afresh Expression of Interest willbe called for appointingConsultant.

By telescopic observation, Ithink passenger ships are not acheaper option anymore. Only3% of ships are passenger shipsand 97% are cargo ships. Weneed to have more air connectivi-ty between the Islands as well asmainland.

We have helicopter service aswell as seaplane running now.

Moreover, the chartered plane,which the Administration wishesto introduce, will be also part of it.The chartered plane is pendingwith the Ministry. Once it materi-alizes, Islanders will get huge ben-efit. The Administration plans tooffer Islanders two-trips per yearat the fare of Rs 1500/- to Rs2500/-.

WWhhyy iiss SShhiippppiinngg CCoorrppoorraattiioonn ooffIInnddiiaa mmiillkkiinngg tthheeAAddmmiinniissttrraattiioonn?? SSeennttiinneell iiss oouutt ooffsseerrvviiccee ffoorr llaasstt oonnee yyeeaarr??

There are serious issues withSCI. I don't know why we are stillcontinuing with them. We arepaying them a lot. But, If I suggestchanging them, I am blamed forbeing partisan towards other pri-vate parties. The Admn is spend-ing about Rs 25 crores forSentinel itself, even without anyservice, whereas our completepurchase for our stores is notmore than Rs 6 crores annually. Infact, SCI has no commitmenttowards our vessels.

WWhhyy iiss MMVV CChhuugglluumm nnoottpprreesssseedd iinnttoo sseerrvviiccee yyeett?? IIss tthhaattnnoott aa ggrroossss wwaassttee ttoo ppuubblliicceexxcchheeqquueerr??

MV Chuglum has no technicalissues. We have already forward-ed the file for technical manningto the Administration. It is pend-ing for last three years.

IItt iiss lleeaarrnntt tthhaatt yyoouurr tteennuurree iisseexxtteennddeedd bbyy aannootthheerr yyeeaarr??

Seriously, I am unable to func-tion properly, but I have beenasked to continue.

State-owned and state-run service industry isnot a viable option. The operating costs are

very high. With the kind of attitude of the staffas well as the state of the fleet, we will be

always lacking on that front. Most of the boatsberthed here are very old. It is difficult to pro-

cure spares for most of them. If I could have myway, I would have decommissioned most of the

boats lying idle.

6 |edit|PAGE THE LIGHT OF ANDAMANS, Port Blair 28 OCTOBER 2011

28 October 2011 | Vol 35 Issue 17-18

Na kuch kehte hi banta hai, Na chup rehte hi banta haiHamara bhee to is mitti se aakhir wastha hai kuch - (Raz Andamani)

Advani's Visit and BJPLLaall KKiisshheenn AAddvvaannii hhaadd ccuutt sshhoorrtt hhiiss vviissiitt ttoo RRaanncchhii ddiissaappppooiinnttiinngg tthhee

wwoorrkkeerrss oovveerr tthheerree wwhheenn hhee ssaaiidd tthhaatt hhee hhaadd ttoo rruusshh ttoo AAnnddaammaannss aasshhee ddeessppeerraatteellyy wwaanntteedd ttoo mmeeeett tthhee oolldd JJaann SSaanngghhiiss iinn AAnnddaammaann aanndd

NNiiccoobbaarr IIssllaannddss.. AAtt tthhee rriippee aaggee ooff 8844,, hhee ccoouulldd mmaannaaggee ttoo ttoouucchh tthhiiss ffaarrtthheesstt oouuttppoosstt ooff

IInnddiiaa,, sseennddiinngg aa cclleeaarr ccuutt mmeessssaaggee tthhaatt iinn hhiiss sscchheemmee ooff tthhiinnggss,, AAnnddaammaannssttoooo ccoouunnttss.. WWhheetthheerr tthhee ssttaattee uunniitt ooff BBJJPP ccoouulldd ttaakkee mmiilleeaaggee ooff AAddvvaannii''ssvviissiitt iiss aa ddiiffffeerreenntt mmaatttteerr..

TThhee ggrroouupp aass ssoooonn aass iitt llaannddeedd rruusshheedd ttoo CCeelllluullaarr JJaaiill ttoo ppaayy ttrriibbuutteess ttootthhee ffrreeeeddoomm ffiigghhtteerrss.. SSoommeeoonnee ppooiinntteedd oouutt tthhaatt hhee ccoouulldd nnoott ccoonnttrrooll hhiisstteeaarrss wwhheenn hhee vviissiitteedd tthhee mmeemmoorriiaall.. SSaavvaarrkkaarr hhaass bbeeeenn aa ppllaannkk ffoorr BBJJPP aannddiiss uusseedd ttoo tthhee hhiilltt aatt ddiiffffeerreenntt lleevveellss.. TThhee ccoonnttrroovveerrssyy aappaarrtt,, nnoobbooddyy rreemmeemm--bbeerrss tthhoossee wwhhoo wweerree ddeeppoorrtteedd hheerree bbeettwweeeenn 11885577 aanndd 11990000.. TThheeyy aarreemmiisssseedd bbiigg ttiimmee bbyy eevveerryyoonnee.. TThhoossee ggrreeaatt ssoouullss ddoo nnoott qquuaalliiffyy iinn ttooddaayy''ssmmiilliieeuu.. TToo rreemmeemmbbeerr tthheemm,, oonnee nneeeeddss ttoo llooookk ffoorr aa mmeemmoorriiaall!!

AAddvvaannii''ss vviissiitt hhaadd ssttrreewwnn eennoouugghh ffeeaatthheerrss iinn tthhee ppaarrttyy.. TThheerree wwaass aa ttaacciittccoommppeettiittiioonn iinn oouuttddooiinngg oonnee aannootthheerr iinn ppuuttttiinngg uupp bbaannnneerrss aanndd bbiillllbbooaarrddss..OOnnee ccoouulldd nnoott sseeee aannyy ssyymmmmeettrryy iinn tthhoossee ddiissppllaayyss wwhheerreeaass iitt cclleeaarrllyy mmaannii--ffeesstteedd tthhee ddiiffffeerreenncceess,, aanndd wwhhoo bbeelloonnggeedd wwhheerree aanndd wwhhyy..

DDiidd tthhee ssttaattee uunniitt mmiissss tthhee ooppppoorrttuunniittyy ttoo bbrriinngg ffoorrtthh oorr hhiigghhlliigghhtt mmaatttteerrssooff llooccaall ccoonncceerrnn wwhheenn tthhee nnaattiioonnaall lleeaaddeerrss wweerree hheerree?? MMoosstt ooff tthhee ssppeeaakk--eerrss aatt tthhee CCoonnffeerreennccee aatt IITTFF ggrroouunnddss hhaadd ffiinniisshheedd tthheeiirr ddiissccoouurrsseess,, wweellllbbeeffoorree tthhee lleeaaddeerr aarrrriivveedd.. AAddvvaannii oorr tthhee ootthheerr nnaattiioonnaall lleeaaddeerrss sshhoouulldd hhaavveebbeeeenn aatt lleeaasstt bbrriieeffeedd bbyy tthhee SSttaattee UUnniitt aabboouutt tthhee lleevveell ooff ccoorrrruuppttiioonn iinn tthheeAAddmmiinniissttrraattiioonn,, wwhhiicchh ddiidd nnoott hhaappppeenn.. AAddvvaannii ssppookkee aabboouutt bbllaacckk mmoonneeyyaanndd ccoorrrruuppttiioonn aatt nnaattiioonnaall lleevveell.. TThheerree wwaass nnootthhiinngg IIssllaanndd--ssppeecciiffiicc iinn tthheeaaddddrreesssseess ooff tthhee lleeaaddeerrss.. EEvveenn tthhee aaddddrreessss bbyy tthhee SSttaattee hheeaadd wwaass rruunn oofftthhee mmiillll ssttuuffff,, wwhhoo ccoouulldd nnoott ccoommppoossee hhiiss wwoorrddss pprrooppeerrllyy..

IItt iiss aallssoo lleeaarrnntt tthhaatt tthheerree wwaass nnoo iinntteerraaccttiioonn bbeettwweeeenn tthhee lleeaaddeerrss aanndd tthheeppaarrttyy wwoorrkkeerrss,, aanndd mmaannyy ooff tthheemm rreettuurrnneedd ddiissaappppooiinntteedd.. TThhee mmoonneeyy aannddeenneerrggyy ssppeenntt bbyy tthhee ppaarrttyy ttoo ccoooorrddiinnaattee tthhee llooccaall lleegg ooff tthhee YYaattrraa ccoouulldd nnoottccrreeaattee aa vviissiibbllee rriippppllee aannyywwhheerree.. TThhee ZZ--ccaatteeggoorryy sseeccuurriittyy ttoooo ppllaayyeedd ssppooiill--ssppoorrtt wwiitthh tthhee llooccaall lleeaaddeerrsshhiipp aanndd wwoorrkkeerrss.. TTiillll tthhee llaasstt mmoommeenntt,, tthheeyy wweerreennoott aalllloowweedd ttoo eevveenn sshhaarree tthhee ddiiaass wwiitthh tthheeiirr nnaattiioonnaall lleeaaddeerr..

OOff llaattee,, BBJJPP ttoooo hhaavvee mmaaddee bbrreeaakktthhrroouugghh bbyy wweellccoommiinngg aa ffeeww PPRRII mmeemm--bbeerrss ffrroomm CCoonnggrreessss aanndd TTMMCC.. AA DDiiwwaallii ggiifftt ccrreeddiitteedd ttoo tthhee vviissiitt ooff AAddvvaannii..

BBiisshhnnuu ttoooo ssttoollee tthhee sshhooww,, wwhheenn hhee rreeaacchheedd tthhee aaiirrppoorrtt wwiitthh hhiisseennttoouurraaggee ttoo rreecceeiivvee hhiiss lleeaaddeerr ttoo tthhee ddiissmmaayy ooff tthhee llooccaall lleeaaddeerrss.. TThheeyy ffoorr--ggoott tthhaatt hhee iiss ssttiillll tthhee MMPP ooff BBJJPP aanndd ddeesseerrvveedd ssoommee ssppaaccee iinn tthhee sscchheemmeeooff tthhiinnggss.. FFoorr tthhaatt ttoo mmaatteerriiaalliizzee,, hhiiss ooppppoonneennttss nneeeedd ttoo mmaattuurree aass ppoolliittii--cciiaannss.. AA sseeaatt oonn tthhee ddiiaass ccoouulldd hhaavvee ccoonnffuusseedd mmaannyy aabboouutt tthhee eevveennttss ggooiinnggttoo ttrraannssppiirree..

SACRED | SPACE

After the Earthquake had subsided,when the rescuers reached the ruins

of a young woman’s house, they saw herdead body through the cracks. But herpose was somehow strange that sheknelt on her knees like a person was wor-shiping; her body was leaning forwardand her two hands were supporting anobject. The collapsed house had crashedher back and her head.

With many difficulties, the leader ofthe rescuer team put his hand through anarrow gap on the wall to reach thewoman’s body. He was hoping that thiswoman could still be alive. However, thecold and stiff body told him that she hadpassed away. He and the rest of the teamleft this house and went to search thenext collapsed building.

For some reasons, the team leaderwas driven by a compelling force to goback to the ruin house of the dead

woman. Again, he knelt down and usedhis hand through the narrow cracks tosearch the little space under the deadbody.

Suddenly, he screamed, “A child!There is a child!”

The whole team worked together,carefully they removed the piles ofruined objects around the dead woman.There was a 3 months old little boywrapped in a flowery blanket under hismother’s dead body. Obviously, thewoman had made an ultimate sacrificeto save her son. When her house wasfalling, she used her body to make acover to protect her son.

The medical doctor came quickly toexam the little boy. After he opened theblanket, he saw a cell phone inside.There was a text message on the screen,it said: ”Dear baby, if you can live, alwaysremember that I love you.”

Mother’s Sacrifice

This with reference to theissues highlighted undertitle " LAND REFORMS:

THE UNSCRIPTED SAGA" inyour News Magazine 'the Lightof Andaman' in its publicationdated 14/10/2011.

I, being a descendant of Pre-1942 settled family and alsoclosely associated with the rev-enue Department as petitionwriter since two decades wouldnot only comment but also liketo bring some vital points whichcould be an eye opener for thestalwarts to think otherwise.

Undoubtedly the revenuedepartment is the pioneeringdepartment of AndamanAdministration. All the policiesand programmes are imple-mented through the RevenueAdministration such as reliefand rehabilitation during natu-ral calamities like flood, fireaccidents, earthquakes, tsuna-mi etc,. Time-bound and urgentworks like census operations,elections, and celebration ofnational / international days,etc. are also extracted throughRevenue Administration and itsstaffs are totally engaged.

The revenue officials especial-ly Patwaris maintain the landrecords and the instrument forits issue after certification as perthe provisions contained in theA & N Islands LR & LRR 1966.

The Revenue Departmentbeing the key department in theAdministration, every personirrespective of whether he holdsa piece of land or not has tointeract with the Patwaris. He isthe gateway of Administrationand without his mercy andblessings, like Ganesha inHindu Dharma, one can't enterthe gate of Administration,which makes him the mightiest.He is the Chitragupta of landowners and a friend of landmafias. Any decisions, theAdministration can take with-out his report based on therecords made four to sixdecades ago. The oldness of theland records and its fadedness isa blessing for the Patwaris asthey can interpret according tothe Dakshina offered. As youhave very well pointed out thatsince the British regime theAdministration have been try-ing to right the records but dueto lack of will power of the highups in the department many atime the task is lost in its wayuncompleted. Likewise the

department has miserablyfailed to strengthen it by creat-ing the staff strength accordingto the call of the hour. The num-ber of staff remains as it wasfour decades ago while the pop-ulation and holdings haveincreased 300-400 times. Dueto shortage of Patwaris andother revenue staff, the existing

officials have become monopo-listic and one can find publicwandering after them frommorning to late evening toextract work. Recently theAndaman District was dividedinto two districts while in theTehsil level it is nil. On the otherhand, the Police, Forest andAPWD have created andincreased their staff strengthtremendously and there arenow 76 Rangers, 64 DeputyRangers, 227 Foresters, 47Head Forest Guards and 331Forest Guards in the ForestDepartment.

The Police Departmentrecently recruited many policepersonnel and strengthenedtheir fleet and since last tenyears created many Police sta-tions and upgrading manychoukis into Police stations. InAPWD also many Divisions andsub Divisions were newly creat-ed and posts of JEs, AEs and EEsfilled.

At the same time the staffstrength of revenue Department

remained at stagnation. Thereare 69 panchayats and 18Municipal wards right fromCampbell Bay to Diglipur leav-ing aside the Nicobar TribalCouncils. To cop up with therevenue matters the strength ofrevenue staff is 42 Surveyors,04 Draftsman,15 Head survey-ors, 01 Revenue Draftsman 3

Computer Operators, 57Patwaris, 25 RevenueInspectors, 7 Deputy Tehsildarand 13 Tehsildar. Out of thismany posts are lying vacant.The pitiable condition of rev-enue records and the shortageof staff to handle it yielded thedepartment a bad name and inthe eye of general public a hubof corruption. The departmentis presently somehow managingwith handful staff to run theAdministration. In SouthAndaman, there are only threeTehsils Port Blair, Ferrargunjand Little Andaman. The call ofthe hour is creation of moreTehsil and adequate revenuestaff up to the level of Tehsildarat par with other Departmentsstated above so that generalpublic are not harassed anddoes not suffer any more. Moreattention towards updating ofrecords is also required in a warfooting manner.

RRaamm NNaarraayyaann @@ TThhaattuuPort Blair

MAIL | BOX

A Stagnant RevenueDepartment?

Shanty Town: A Reality?WWhhaatt eevveerr yyoouu iilllluussttrraatteedd iinn ""SShhaannttyy TToowwnn"" iiss tthhee rreeaalliittyy ooff

AAnnddaammaann aanndd aallll ggrroowwiinngg cciittiieess ooff IInnddiiaa.. TThhee ppoolliittiicciiaannss && bbuuiillddeerrlloobbbbyy ffiirrsstt eennccoouurraaggeess eennccrrooaacchhmmeennttss ooff mmiiggrraatteedd ppeeooppllee aanndd ccrree--aattee sslluummss aanndd tthheeyy ssttaanndd bbeehhiinndd tthheemm ttoo aacchhiieevvee tthheeiirr ppoolliittiiccaall wwiillllaanndd tthhee bbuuiillddeerrss ssuuppppoorrtt tthheemm ttoo ggrraabb tthhee llaannddss..

TThhiiss iiss tthhee ccaattaassttrroopphhee aanndd ppaaiinn ooff eevveerryy ggrroowwiinngg cciittyy.. BBuutt ffoorrAAnnddaammaann iitt''ss rreeaallllyy aa mmaajjoorr cchhaalllleennggee && ddiissaasstteerr bbeeccaauussee tthheerree iisslliimmiitteedd llaanndd aanndd iiff ppeeooppllee ggrrooww,, uunnaauutthhoorriizzeedd sslluummss wwiillll ggeett ddeevveell--ooppeedd.. IItt wwiillll ddeeffiinniitteellyy aaffffeecctt tthhee ggrreeeenn ccoovveerr aanndd bblluuee sseeaa bbeeaauuttyy ooffAAnnddaammaann.. IItt wwiillll sseevveerreellyy ddaammaaggee tthhee ttoouurriissmm ooff AAnnddaammaann..AAnnddaammaann ccoommee iinn ttoopp sseeiissmmiicc zzoonnee aanndd tthhee ppoooorr qquuaalliittyy ccoonnssttrruucc--ttiioonn ccaann ccaauussee aannootthheerr mmaannmmaaddee ddiissaasstteerr..

TThheerree iiss nneeeedd ttoo ccrreeaattee aawwaarreenneessss bbyy tthhee llooccaall bbooddiieess aannddGGoovveerrnnmmeenntt ttoo ffiinnaalliizzee ssttrriicctt ttoowwnn ppllaannnniinngg mmeeaassuurreess aanndd rrooaaddmmaapp ttoo ddeevveelloopp PPoorrtt BBllaaiirr aanndd tthhee nneeaarrbbyy vviillllaaggeess ssyysstteemmaattiiccaallllyy..

SShhaarraadd PPaanntt,, DDeevveellooppmmeenntt CCoonnssuullttaanntt

7 |home|PAGE THE LIGHT OF ANDAMANS, Port Blair 28 OCTOBER 2011

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Gambling RacketsBusted , 18 Arrested

In a pre-dawn gambling raid on Diwali night, P.S.Pahargaon police team have seized Rs. 2, 83, 940/-from a gambling den at Pathergudda and arrested 11

gamblers under A&N Gambling Regulation 1956, sur-passing their previous record seizure of gambling cashmade last month.

With a view to curb gambling activities during Diwalicelebrations, police teams of South Andaman have beenconducting raids at different places for over a week.Acting on solid information, P.S. Pahargaon team com-prising of SHO K. Joju, SI Usman Ali, SI Kannan, SI A.K.Biswas, ASI Mohd. Rafique, HC Pradeep Bairagi, PCsNimai, Gopal and HGs Rajender and Malyadri success-fully raided two dens on Diwali eve in an operation close-ly monitored by ASP Chinmoy Biswal.

In the pre-dawn raid at a den at Pathergudda onThursday, 11 persons were caught with playing cards andRs. 2,05,700/- on board. Further cash Rs. 78,240/- wasrecovered from their personal search. The following per-sons namely, (1) Ravinder Lall (38), r/o Bathubasti (2)Rajiv Lall (45), r/o Aberdeen Basti (3) S. Goyal (43), r/oJunglighat (4) Balram Roy (45), r/o Lambaline (5) S.Kumar (33), r/o Junglighat (6) Swapan Sarkar (43), r/oNayaghar (7) Navin (35), r/o Shadipur (8) N. Ram (50),r/o Prothrapur (9) Dipak Lall (45), r/o Shadipur (10)Manish Kumar Agarwal (32), r/o Nayagaon and (11)Iswar Lall (50), r/o Pathergudda, in whose house the raidtook place have been booked u/s 3/4/6/7 of GamblingRegulation 1956.

In another raid on Wednesday, the above police teamraided a spot near Teylerabad School and nabbed sevenpersons namely V. Raj (32), r/o Garacharma, S. AnbuSelvam (32) r/o Garacharma, K. Ravi Kumar (32), r/o

Garacharma, A. Justin (23), r/o Bathubasti , K. Trupati(37), r/o Garacharma, Susanta Kr. Bose (36), r/oGaracharma and M. Srinivas Rao (32), r/o Round Bastialong with playing cards and Rs.43,715/- cash.

29 More Gamblers ArrestedFrom Middle Andaman

In a major offensive against the gamblers, the policepersonnel of PS Ograbraj and Bambooflat came downheavily on gamblers during the peak gambling season.

On 25/10/11 at 2200 hrs, a team of Police personnel ledby SI Adi Moorthy of PS Ograbraj raided a gambling denat Habidipur and arrested 10 gamblers namely, (1)Rajesh S/o Late Lalji (41), (2) Dilip Sing S/o Shri RajanSingh (30) (3) Ranjit Kumar Tirkey S/o Shri JamesTirkey (23) (4) Nand Lall s/o Late Ramcharan (45), (5)

Pradeep Yadav s/o Janak Yadav (45) (6) Arvind Tiggas/o Shri. Babil Tigga (28 years), (7) Jai Govind s/o ShriRaj Bahadur (34), (8) Sunil Kumar S/o Shri Habil (25),(9) Paul Peter s/o shri Prakash Ekka (25) and (10) AmitTigga s/o Shri Arvind Tigga (28) all resident ofTushnabad area.

Similarly on 26/10/11 at 1020 hrs, ASI VP Mishra,Incharge OP Tushnabad conducted raid at Caddlegunjarea and arrested 4 gamblers namely (1) KishanSwaroop S/o Barat Ram (43) R/o Pahargaon and (2)Sarnam Singh S/o late Prem Singh (34), (3) Ram lall S/oAsrafi Lal (56) and (4) Govind Ram S/o Sri Ram (20) all

residents of Caddlegunj. On the same day a 2220 hrs another Police team led by

SI Adimoorthy arrested (1) S Pandian S/o R.Subbaiah(33) (2) Kumar Singh S/o Rup Singh (32), (3) SameerMondal S/o Basant Mondal (34), (4) Surender S/oRamaswamy (33), (5) Prafulla S/o Auguster Kullu (29),(6) Vinod Ram S/o Anant Ram (23) and (7) RagunathSingh S/o late Bharat Singh, all residents of Port Mout forindulging in Gambling at Port Mout area. A total sum ofRs.24,640/- were recovered as board money from thethree spots.

On 27/10/11 at 0045 hrs a team of police personnel ledby SI Deepak Mukherjee, I/C OP W/Gunj raided at ShoalBay No.8 and arrested 3 gamblers on the spot namely (1)Abdul Nafik s/o Ummar (28) R/o Wright Myo, (2)Martin Xalxo s/o late mansit Xalxo (35) R/o shoal Bay-8and (3) Santosh Back s/o late paulus Back (42) r/o ShoalBay and in an another raid at Shoal Bay No. 12 at 1520hrs and 05 gamblers were arrested on the spot namely(1) James Minj s/o Libon Minj (280 R/o shoal Bay, (2)Rosan Back S/o Peter Back (32) r/o Shoal bay-12, (3)Depankar Halder s/o Dulal Halder (25) R/o shoal bay-14, (4) Arumugam s/o Adaikalam (40) R/o Shoal Bay-12and (5) Jeevan Minj S/o John Minj (33) R/o Shoal Bay-12 for indulging in gambling. A total sum of Rs.4980/-was recovered as board money from the two spots.

The raids were conducted under the supervision of SISahil Samsuddin, SHO Ograbraj and SI Arun kr. Singh,SHO Bambooflat, closely monitored by Shri Vinit Kumar,Dy. SP/Middle Andaman.

General public is hereby requested to pass on credibleinformation pertaining to gambling and other crimes onthe phone numbers 250525 (PS Pahargaon), 233077,232400 (PS Aberdeen), 232232 (PS Chatham), 100(PCR), 258019, 224934, 9434289981, and 9933227400.The identity of the informer will be kept secret.

The Early BoatTiny droplets of the waves spray,

as they broke against the rocky bay, glistened my face in the morning chill, as the sun broke above the misty hill.

Early boat hoots to break the silence, a lonely sailor tries to keep his balance,

as he strains to pull up the anchor, signaling the boat won't wait longer.

I stepped up my pace as I walked, a stray dog stretched and barked,

Boarded the boat like all in a hurry, as the waves lashed against it in fury.

Moved towards my place by the rail, friend's gossip, as the sirens wail, a warm feeling crept up my body,

as I searched the crowd for the lady.

She lifted her head to see me staring, I wondered had I become so daring,

to pass a smile and wish good morning, felt so foolish but couldn't resist the feeling.

My heart beat faster as I patiently wait, praying would she ever take the bait,

sighed with relief as her eyes caught me, and wished me back with a pleasant smile.

By AAnnii VV SS, SDO, BSNL

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NEWS BITES

YOUR | SPACE

Before independence the Indian Press had a specific goal of achieving lib-erty. And it was natural that the then Government denied any access

anywhere for the journalists for a pretty long time.The situation changed a bit after sometime. The press was allowed with

restricted access with many conditions imposed. They were not evenallowed pen, pencil and papers. They were supposed to see, remember, tospeak to news-makers and landing on their respective news desks and pre-pare stories.

Came Independence and with that entered democracy. Situation for thePress also improved. Journalists were allowed to carry pen, pencil andpaper with them with more access to news-makers. But still nobody wouldgive importance to Journalists, not even a glass of water. But with furtherimprovement in the situation, water and even a piece of a paper, on requestwere provided to the Journalists.

State of affairs bettered a lot. On their entry, special corridor would beready for them with someone to greet them and lead them to their ear-marked chairs reserved for them with pen, note-books and diaries withoutdemand. They are also offered refreshment.

The circumstances changed manifold. Special Press conferences only forjournalists are organised. In addition to above items, dinner with costlydrinks, both hot and soft are offered. Sometimes packets of considerationstoo. But alas! The poor journalists still have to write stories by their ownafter returning boozed or exhausted.

Hope for further perfection. In addition to all above, organisers or theinstitution, would give the journalists readymade materials, prepared newsand stories. No questions, No answers, a peaceful co-existence with glassesof wine, plates of dinner , pack of gifts and dropping them at their homes,JAI HIND!

— Musafir

The Press Express

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candid | CAMERA8 |back|PAGE THE LIGHT OF ANDAMANS, Port Blair 28 OCTOBER 2011

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SCANNING POTHOLES: The disposed CT Scanner removed from GB Pant Hospital kept on the road

Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.