Sri Vijaya Puram, July 16: Communist Party of India (Marxist) has demanded a permanent solution to the power cut in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. During his recent visit to Delhi, D. Ayyappan, CPI (M) A & N State Secretary in a memorandum submitted to the Home Secretary, Govt of India requested the Govt of India to strengthen power sector in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, treating this union territory in a special category in order to have permanent solution to the power disruption and to meet the growing needs of the people. CPI (M) has already submitted detailed proposals to the Ministry of Power and A & N Administration to increase the power generation in the islands, but no concrete steps have been taken to overcome the power shortfall and consequent power cut. CPI (M) State Secretary sought the intervention of the Home Secretary in this issue.
CPI (M) has further demanded to run the ANIIMS on a permanent basis, by creating permanent posts of Faculty and staff. CPI (M) Secretary said that the only Medical College (Andaman Nicobar Islands Institute of Medical Sciences) in Andaman & Nicobar Islands which was established under a society registered under the Registration of Societies Act, 1860, has been run in a temporary manner since its establishment in 2015. Faculty and staff in the Medical College have been appointed on contract basis as no regular post has been created. CPI (M) brought to the notice of the Home Secretary that the faculty members, appointed on contract basis, give up their contract jobs as and when they get permanent jobs on the mainland medical colleges. CPI (M) State Secretary complained to the Home Secretary that the GB Pant Hospital, attached to the ANIIMS, has not been provided with sufficient staff, equipment and machinery like MRI Machine, medicine, etc. Students in the ANIIMS as well as the patients attending the GB Pant Hospital are adversely affected due to the running of the ANIIMS in a temporary manner.
CPI (M) Secretary told the Home Secretary that a proposal submitted by the A & N Administration for creation of 650 posts of various categories for the ANIIMS, is pending with the Govt of India and urged the Home Secretary to take necessary steps to run the ANIIMS on a permanent basis.
CPI (M) has further demanded continuation of the affiliation of all the seven colleges in A & N Islands with the Pondicherry University till a central university exclusively for A & N Islands is established. Ayyappan submitted before the Home Secretary that not only a Deemed University was imposed on the islanders, but also the seven Government Colleges presently functioning in the islands (JNRM, Port Blair, MG Govt. College, Mayabunder, ANCOL, Port Blair, TGCE, Port Blair, DBRAIT, Dollygunj, Andaman Law College and ANIIMS) have been brought under the Deemed University through a gazette notification, a practice never followed in any State or Union Territory in the country.
CPI (M) Secretary informed the Home Secretary that there has been widespread protest over the decision of the authorities to bring all the existing colleges under the newly established Deemed University, disaffiliating from Pondicherry University. Students’ organisations like ABVP, NSUI and SFI jointly conducted agitations during this year against the disaffiliation of existing colleges from the Pondicherry University. It is feared that quality of higher education will be compromised in the Deemed University and there will be steep increase in the fee structure which the students belonging to poorer section of society cannot afford, CPI (M) stated in the memorandum to the Home Secretary. CPI (M) Secretary submitted before the Home Secretary that nobody in the islands ever demanded establishment of a Deemed University in Andaman & Nicobr Islands and affiliation of the colleges with such a Deemed University.