Tarun Karthick
Campbell Bay, 20 April 2021
E S Rajesh, District President, Bharatiya Janata Party, Nicobar District has written a letter to the Deputy Commissioner of Nicobar District requesting him to make Rapid Antigen Tests mandatory on arrival in Islands of Nicobar District. He has also requested the DC for compulsory seven days home quarantine for incoming passengers to the Nicobar District.
E S Rajesh in his letter has mentioned that the Medical Facilities in Nicobar District is not up to the mark and the population is scattered across small Islands and incase a widespread outbreak of COVID-19 occurs in Nicobar District, it would be very difficult to manage.
He further demanded that the Rapid Antigen Tests and 7 days home quarantine should also be made mandatory for passengers arriving in the district by helicopter.
E S Rajesh in his letter has also mentioned that large number of passengers are stuck in Port Blair who needs to travel back to their homes in Nicobar District. He added that the ship sailings for Nicobar Group has been irregular ever since the announcement of the visit of the Hon’ble President of India to the Islands. He requested that a sailing of ship should be made available directly from Port Blair to Campbell Bay and further more sailings should be announced for other Islands.
He also added that regular ship sailings with reduced frequency should be provided to Islands of Nicobar District after the backlog of waiting passengers are cleared.
He also requested the DC not to exempt anyone from the measures he suggested since last time when quarantine was compulsory in the Islands it was seen that Govt. Servants were mostly given exemption and officers used to arrive from different mainland cities and were allowed to move freely and meet the general population.
The demands raised by the District President of Bharatiya Janata Party, Nicobar District are genuine and will help in ensuring that Nicobar District stays COVID-19 free.