Tarun Karthick
Campbell Bay, 13 December 2021
A few select residents of Gandhi Nagar, Campbell Bay have been issued Show Cause Notices by the Assistant Commissioner, Campbell Bay recently. The Show Cause Notice was issued for modifying/making alterations in the permanent Tsunami Shelter allotted to them.
Permanent Tsunami Shelters were issued to the residents of Great Nicobar who had lost their homes due to the devastating Tsunami in December of 2004.
The allotment order of the permanent shelter has a clause that says ‘That the beneficiaries shall not incorporate any alterations, modifications or additions to the shelter structure’.
Another clause in the allotment order of the permanent shelter states ‘That the Administration reserves its right over the permanent shelter and it shall cancel allotment at any time by giving one month notice, if the beneficiary has violated any of the terms & conditions specified above.’
Nearly all the allottees of permanent shelter at Campbell Bay have made some or the other modifications/alteration to their permanent shelter in order to live comfortably.
The permanent shelter allotted to the beneficiaries at Campbell Bay was primarily made out of wood and it has been more than ten years since most of the permanent shelters were constructed. The beneficiaries to save the structure of their permanent shelters have made some alterations so that they can live comfortably without the fear of the structure falling apart.
On 9th December 2021, some residents of Gandhi Nagar received Show Cause Notice from the Assistant Commissioner, Campbell Bay for making alterations/modifying the permanent shelters allotted to them.
It is interesting to note that almost all permanent shelters in Great Nicobar have been modified/altered in some or the other manner, but notices were only given to a particular set of residents. Most of the beneficiaries who were issued the Show Cause Notice were active in the recent farmers protest held at Campbell Bay to press for the demand of starting the procurement of copra on MSP.
Many residents have alleged that the show cause notice issued by the Assistant Commissioner, Campbell Bay was purely for the purpose of intimidation. The residents allege that the sole purpose of the show cause notice is to intimidate active people who were connected with the farmer’s protest.
While some residents believe that the Show Cause Notice was sent to a particular set of beneficiaries as a test case to start an extortion bid. While speaking to Nicobar Times a few of the residents of Great Nicobar informed that a few officers of Andaman and Nicobar Administration have been running various extortion rackets and that now such officers wish to expand to even the remote areas like Great Nicobar where they can find easy prey in the common man.
The Show Cause Notice issued by the Assistant Commissioner of Campbell Bay to a particular set of beneficiaries who had active connections to the farmer’s protest raises a lot of questions.
The question is whether A & N Administration is trying to silence people who exercise their democratic right to protest or is it part of something large which will pan out in the next few days.
Ten years have passed since the permanent shelters were allotted to the beneficiaries and the permanent shelter needed a lot of maintenance in the last ten years. To improve the living conditions the beneficiaries have incorporated some alterations which should have been considered by the Administration before issuing such show-cause notice.
It is also interesting that the permanent shelters allotted to the beneficiaries is still the property of the Andaman and Nicobar Administration. The permanent shelters were constructed as a part of providing relief to the needy who had lost everything in the Tsunami and the ownership of the property should be transferred to the beneficiaries to give them the security of their own house.
Most of the beneficiaries who had been issued the show cause notice by the Assistant Commissioner, in their reply have mentioned that they are aggrieved that only a particular set of people have been show caused by the AC, whereas modifications/alterations to safeguard permanent shelter have been made by almost each and every allottee of Great Nicobar Island.