Expresses Concern over Bad Condition of Road
Port Blair, Sept. 20: The Chief Secretary, Shri Keshav Chandra, IAS on the second day of his tour to N&M Andaman District, visited various places in Diglipur. During the visit, he visited the first ever private Fresh Water Finfish Hatchery developed by a women fish farmer namely Smti Vijaya Biswas under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana at Durgapur in Diglipur. The objective of the ‘Fresh Water Finfish Hatchery’ development scheme is to fulfill the requirement of fish seeds.
Under this scheme, Smt. Vijaya developed the farm in 0.6 hectare of land with the financial assistance received under the scheme, thereby fulfilling the requirement of fish seeds of the area. The Chief Secretary praised the effort of women beneficiary for availing assistance under PMMSY scheme in setting up the hatchery. With this self-venture initiative, Smt. Vijaya not only generated employment to the local residents but is also a role model for others. The Chief Secretary also lauded the officials of the Fisheries Department for encouraging private farmers to set up their own venture under the scheme, which was so far only done by the Government.
Thereafter, the Chief Secretary visited the Airstrip Extension Project site at Shibpur. The Officials of INS Kohassa informed that all clearances for extension of airstrip by another two km have already been obtained. Tendering is in process while acquisition of land for extension of 117 mtrs length on the other end is also in progress. In the meantime, it has been ascertained that the Ministry of Civil Aviation is in the process of finalizing the bids received for Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) UDAAN 4.2. It emerged from the visit of Chief Secretary that grounds are almost ready for passenger flight operation to Diglipur.
The Chief Secretary visited Kalipur Beach where eco-friendly tourism infrastructures will be developed under the aegis of NITI Aayog. This will boost the economy of the Island and generate considerable employment opportunity.
Later, the Chief Secretary inspected the Cold Storage & Ice Plant being maintained by ANIIDCO. The Chief Secretary praised Bikas Chandra, a staff working there for maintaining utmost cleanliness & hygiene of the milk storage containers.
Earlier, in the morning, the Chief Secretary visited yet another potential tourism site developed under the aegis of NITI Aayog viz. Ross & Smith Island.
The Chief Secretary also visited CHC Kishori Nagar and interacted with the Doctor and the Nursing Staff present there. He appreciated the services rendered by the doctor and the staff in the remote part of the Island.
After completion of his visit to Diglipur, the Chief Secretary while proceeding to Mayabunder by road inspected the stretch of NH-4 road before Kalara Junction. The Chief Secretary expressed concern over the bad condition of the road. Upon this, NHIDCL officials assured to complete the most critical stretch between Sitanagar and Kalra Junction within two months. He asked the DC, N&M Andaman to extend all possible support to NHIDCL to meet the deadline.