Member of Parliament Demands Daily Ferry Services between Port Blair and Long Island to Promote Tourism in the Island

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Port Blair, Oct. 18: The Member of Parliament, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Shri. Kuldeep Rai Sharma has requested the Chief Secretary, A&N Administration to operate a daily direct ferry between Port Blair and Long Island to promote tourism in Long Island and generate employment.

In a letter addressed to the Chief Secretary, the Member of Parliament mentioned that post pandemic, Tourism is slowly picking up in Andaman & Nicobar Islands and the number of tourists visiting these Islands are also increasing.

He said that for further promotion of Tourism and opening of more options for visiting tourists it is necessary to make Long Island easily accessible for visiting tourists and local residents on a daily basis.

He pointed out that Long Island has a population of nearly 2000 people and after the closure of the Kitply Industry a large number of people left the Island and the Island economy suffered a major setback. Since then several attempts were made to promote tourism in the Island but due to difficulty in reaching the Island, most of the tourists stayed away from Long Island and tourism could not flourish in the Island.

To promote Tourism in Long Island in a big way, the Member of Parliament requested the Chief Secretary to start direct daily ferry service from Port Blair to Long Island.

He said that the ferry can remain standby for the entire day at Long Island and in the evening tourists can return back to Port Blair in the same Ferry.

He mentioned that if a daily ferry is started for Long Island the tourist footfall will increase and soon hotels and other accommodations will open up in Long Island, which will give a massive boost to Long Island economy and generate hundreds of jobs for local residents of Long Island and other Islanders.

Secondly, as Long Island had a history of boat building in the past. The Member of Parliament thus requested the Chief Secretary to explore the possibilities of re-starting local boat building at Long Island, which will again generate a good number of employment for residents of Long Island.