Tarun Karthick
Port Blair, 28 September 2022
The old ferry boats deployed by the Directorate of Shipping Services at Nancowrie have made the lives of the residents miserable. At present two ferry boats are deployed at Nancowrie, M.V Galathea and M.V Barren.
Of the two boats, M.V Galathea is the large passenger ferry and M.V Barren is the smaller one. M.V Galathea had developed a hole around three years back and DSS has still not arranged for its permanent repair, whereas, M.V Barren develops faults frequently and the service is disrupted.
The students from remote villages of Munak and Hitui are unable to attend their schools at Kamorta and Champin due to the non-availability of ferry service. The patients and the general public are also suffering. Only small ferry boats like M.V Barren can provide services to the residents of Munak and Hitui due to the constraints of berthing at the respective places.
M.V Galathea is currently providing services between Kamorta and Champin but the students are constantly reaching late for their classes. The speed of M.V Galathea has significantly reduced due to years of neglect in maintenance.
There is a crisscross movement of students between Kamorta and Champin every day. Arts and Commerce Stream is only available in GSSS Champin and Science Stream is only available in GMSSS Goal Tekry, ferry is the only mode of transportation between the two Islands.
The students of Munak and Hitui are the worst sufferers as they are not able to attend school for about a week due to the faulty ferry M.V Barren.
Mr. Aslam Majid, First Captain, Kamorta spoke to Nicobar Times and informed that the residents, especially students and patients are suffering a lot due to the frequent disruption in ferry service. Mr. Majid has requested the Administration to deploy new ferry boats at Kamorta for the convenience of the general public.