Rohit Kumar
Port Blair, 09 August 2022
Mr. B Hema Rao, Govt. Nominee, Andaman and Nicobar Fisheries Cooperative Federation Ltd. and General Secretary, Fishermen Welfare Association, A & N Islands has written a letter to the Hon’ble Lt. Governor and Chief Secretary, A & N Islands complaining against the behaviour of Ms. Iti Agarwal, Director, Fisheries Department, A & N Administration.
Mr. Rao informed the LG that he sought to meet the Director of Fisheries (DoF) during the public visiting hours with the Zonal Manager of Bank of Maharastra who had arrived from Kolkata and was ready to help the fishermen community of the Islands under the PMMSY Scheme. Mr. S U Maheswar Rao, Governing Body Member of NFDB also accompanied them. The Bank of Maharastra had already communicated the request for meeting the DoF earlier.
Mr. Rao also informed that the DoF made them wait for about an hour during the public visiting hours. Mr. S U Maheswar Rao then presented his visiting card and the director called him inside and informed him that the bank manager was not allowed. Then Mr. S U Maheshwar Rao and Mr. Hema Rao met the DoF and asked regarding refusal to meet bank officials, upon which the DoF started shouting and asked Mr. Hema Rao to get out.
Mr. Manik Rao, President, TDP, Andaman and Nicobar Islands also wrote a letter to the LG demanding investigation and action against the DoF.
Mr. Maheswar Rao speaking over phone with Nicobar Times informed that the officials of the Bank of Maharastra left the office feeling insulted.
Nicobar Times also sent an Email to the DoF on the official Email ID requesting her to narrate her side of the story, but no reply was received (The reply of the Director will be updated here as soon as it is received). DoF reportedly informed another media organisation that she had a lot of pending files as she has joined duty after leave just on the day of the incident, so she was unable to meet the bank officials.
Many members of the Fishermen Community are outraged by the incident and called up Nicobar Times to publish the story.
The officials should meet the general public and representatives of the general public at least during the designated public visiting hours.
Mr. Hema Rao in his letter has also mentioned that no fishermen dares to meet the DoF due to her rude behaviour.
Mr. Hema Rao requested the Hon’ble Lt. Governor and Chief Secretary to take appropriate action.