Port Blair, March 2: Coast Guard District Headquarters at Diglipur conducted special ‘Community Interaction Programme (CIP)” as part of Andaman and Nicobar Commands’ Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav programme, for fishing community of Ganeshnagar on 27 Feb 22 in conjunction with Department of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj, PMF, Forest and local bodies of Gram Panchayat (Ganeshnagar).

The Community Interaction Programme was focused  to educate fishermen about importance of carrying life saving gears while venturing into sea for fishing voyage. The fisher-folk were apprised on usage of Distress Alert Transponder and associated SOS procedures for seeking assistance of Coast Guard during distress at sea. Fishing community were briefed regarding 24x7 SAR Help Line 1554 which is a Toll Free Number for seeking any SAR assistance at sea. Practical demonstration on donning of Life Jackets, operation of DAT, Signal Flare and portable Fire Fighting Extinguishers was imparted during the interaction programme.

The Special Community Interaction Programme was followed by conduct of a Medical Camp. As part of Medical Camp, awareness lectures on ‘Preventive Measures during COVID-19 Pandemic’ & ‘COVID-19 Vaccination’ were conducted. Fisher folks were also provided first hand training on CPR procedure, ‘first aid’ and ‘fracture fixation’ by medical team of Coast Guard.

The conduct of this special Community Interaction Programme and multi-specialty Medical Camp by Coast Guard was greatly welcomed by the fishing community and was a huge success.