Tarun Karthick
Campbell Bay, 22 June 2021
State Highway No. 2 also known as the North-South Road of Campbell Bay connects the main headquarter area of Campbell Bay to Shastri Nagar. The road is further being extended by the Border Roads Organisation and will connect Campbell Bay to Indira Point soon.
Shastri Nagar is the southernmost revenue village of India and Ex-Servicemen Settler families have been settled there.
There are several revenue villages in between Campbell Bay to Shastri Nagar which is connected by the same road. The said road was initially constructed by the Border Road Organisation and then handed over to APWD.
Andaman Public Works Department is the responsible agency for maintenance of the said road. APWD has completely failed to maintain the road and the residents of the remote villages of Campbell Bay suffer each day because of the negligent attitude of the officers of APWD.
Thousands of potholes have developed over various stretches of the road causing problems for the motorists everyday. APWD has taken up construction works in some parts of the road but a large part of the road still gives nightmares to the regular commuters.
The State Transport Service busses which ply regularly on the route, have to be extensively maintained everyday because of the condition of the roads. The residents who travel by bike on the said road everyday have developed health issues because of the condition of the road.
The vehicles of the regular commuters often breakdown because of the pathetic condition of the road.
Residents avoid travelling by the road after it gets dark because of the potholes which causes accidents.
The local youth and other residents of revenue villages which is connected by the North-South Road have taken up this issue with the authorities of APWD and the Local Administration several times, but no action has been taken till today.
Monsoon has already arrived in the Islands and now no repair works will be carried out on the road and the condition of the road will only deteriorate over time.
Some residents of Campbell Bay informed Nicobar Times that the APWD instead of repairing the roads are wasting their resources. Nicobar Times checked and found that the allegations of the residents were true. Many drums of bitumen were found dumped near the roads, which has somehow toppled. The bitumen is flowing out of the drums on the road and this has been going on for weeks.
The staffs of APWD pass through the said road everyday and but no steps were taken to save the bitumen being wasted.
On one hand, APWD is not doing enough to give relief to the residents, on the other hand, they are wasting the resources purchased from public money and not even trying to stop the wastage.
‘Every day several people complain of the condition of the road to various authorities and public representatives but the Andaman Public Works Department doesn’t care about the problems being faced by the general public’ alleged a resident of Gandhi Nagar while speaking to Nicobar Times.
Another resident of Shastri Nagar while speaking to Nicobar Times sarcastically told that only the Prime Minister and President of India can help them. He added that they just have to announce their visit to the Island and all roads will be constructed afresh from scratch.
The residents of the revenue villages of Laxmi Nagar, Gandhi Nagar and Shastri Nagar are totally fed up of the Andaman Public Works Department and their promises of repairing the road and making it safe for travel.
The top brass of Andaman and Nicobar Administration should intervene and instruct APWD to immediately repair the entire stretch of road from Zero Point to Shastri Nagar for the benefit and safety of the commuters. They should also check the wastage of resources by APWD which has been purchased from public money.