Sri Vijaya Puram | December 30, 2025
By Tarun Karthick
The deteriorating condition of National Highway-4, the lifeline connecting Sri Vijaya Puram with Rangat, Mayabunder and Diglipur in North and Middle Andaman, has once again brought into focus the urgent need for deploying larger and more comfortable passenger ships on key inter-island routes. Despite the highway being handed over to the National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) years ago, its condition has steadily worsened, making road travel increasingly painful and unsafe, particularly for the sick and infirm.
The problem assumes greater gravity in view of the limited medical facilities available in North and Middle Andaman. Patients from Diglipur, Mayabunder and surrounding areas frequently have to travel to Sri Vijaya Puram for specialised treatment or advanced medical care. Many are routinely referred by government-run health facilities, while others require repeated visits to Sri Vijaya Puram or even the mainland as part of ongoing treatment regimes.
For such patients, road travel on NH-4 is often avoided due to the physical distress it causes. The prolonged jolts and poor road surface not only intensify pain but, in many cases, also worsen existing medical conditions. Helicopter services, though the most comfortable option, remain out of reach for most due to limited seat availability.
Ships thus emerge as the next viable alternative. However, patients now face a different challenge. While sea travel is relatively more comfortable than road journeys, the vessels currently deployed on the Diglipur–Sri Vijaya Puram and Mayabunder–Sri Vijaya Puram sectors are small and lack basic facilities required by patients. Most of these vessels offer only Chair and Seat classes, with no provision for passengers to lie down during the journey.
The hardship this causes is immense. Even a minor injury can make sitting for long hours unbearable, making it easy to imagine the ordeal faced by seriously ill patients forced to remain seated for nearly nine hours while travelling from Diglipur to Sri Vijaya Puram, and over six and a half hours from Mayabunder to the capital.
The issue, long recognised by residents and public representatives of North and Middle Andaman, has repeatedly been raised before authorities. Recently, the demand was reiterated by Mr. Mithun Das, Pradhan of Gram Panchayat Ramnagar in the Diglipur region and State Vice President of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, who took up the matter with the State President of the BJP. He urged for the deployment of larger ships equipped with beds or basic medical facilities on these crucial routes.
With the region’s remoteness and fragile healthcare access, ensuring dignified and humane travel for patients is not a luxury but a necessity. Addressing infrastructural constraints, if any, to enable the deployment of larger vessels is essential so that the islanders, especially those battling illness, are not left to suffer in silence during their journey to treatment.
