Tarun Karthick
Campbell Bay, 20 November 2021
The residents of Nicobar District especially those residing in remote Islands like Katchal, Chowra, Teressa are facing a lot of inconvenience because of the non-availability of speed boat in the district. Speed boat is used for intra-district connectivity in Nicobar District and it facilitates movement between remote Islands of the district for the residents and public employees.
The speed boat is placed under the control of the District Authorities when at Nicobar District and it is scheduled for different Islands based on the need. The speed boat also helps transport passengers of Chowra, Teressa and Katchal to their respective Islands from Nancowry when they arrive by ship from Port Blair.
The speed boat is also deputed to Great Nicobar Island where it is used for transportation between Campbell Bay and other remote unconnected areas of Great Nicobar and Little Nicobar.
The speed boat is sent back to Port Blair for various reasons from Nicobar District, but the replacement of the speed boat is not sent immediately which causes inconvenience to the residents of the district.
Mr. Aslam Majid, First Captain of Kamorta informed Nicobar Times that the non-availability of speed boat in Nicobar District causes a lot of inconvenience to the residents. He informed that the residents of the remote Islands like Chowra, Teressa and Katchal are the worst sufferers. He demanded that DSS should depute a speed boat to Nicobar District immediately.
Directorate of Shipping Services should ensure to send the replacement of the speed boat before recalling it for any reason so that the hardships faced by the residents due to the non-availability of the speed boat can be averted.
Further, the residents of Nancowry are also facing problems because of old ferry boats. The ferry boats deputed to Kamorta are very old and they are not able to provide proper services to the residents. Mr. Aslam Majid also informed Nicobar Times that it is high time that properly conditioned ferry boats should be deployed to Kamorta for providing services to the remote Islanders.