Lt. Governor Chairs 2nd Meeting of Stakeholders to Review Modalities to Create a Proposed SCUBA Diving World Record by Divers in A&N Islands

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Collective efforts of all stakeholders will be instrumental in achieving the objective: LG

Port Blair, April 25: Admiral DK Joshi, PVSM, AVSM, YSM, NM, VSM (Retd.), Hon’ble Lt. Governor, A&N Islands and Vice-Chairman, Islands Development Agency chaired the second Interactive Meeting at Raj Niwas today to review modalities to create a proposed SCUBA Diving World Record by Divers in A&N Islands to promote the Islands as a premium Diving and Tourist destination in the Indian Ocean Region.

Addressing the stakeholders, the Lt. Governor at the outset expressed his happiness on the enthusiasm shown by the stakeholders on the conduct of the event in A&N Islands. The Lt. Governor underlined the need for adhering to the timeline set for staging the event i.e. in the month of Oct–Nov.,2024. He also emphasized that collective and wholehearted efforts of all the stakeholders will be instrumental in the success of this endeavour.

In his opening remarks, the Chief Secretary, A&N Administration, Shri Keshav Chandra, IAS informed that this is the second meeting regarding SCUBA Diving World Record in A&N Islands. He said, two Sub- Committees have been formed i.e. Sub- Committee Planning to look into the planning aspect and Sub- Committee on Execution to look into the execution aspect incorporating the stakeholder from Tourism and Dive Association for the conduct of the event keeping the timeline.

In his address, the Secretary (Tourism), Shri Vishwendra elaborated on the series of meeting/interactive session with the Tourism Stakeholders and Dive Associations to discuss the modalities for the mega event.

The meeting was attended by the Director General of Police, Shri Devesh Chandra Srivastva,IPS, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, A&N Administration, Smt. Nandini Paliwal IAS, Senior Officers of A&N Administration, Andaman & Nicobar Forest, Andaman & Nicobar Command, Tourism & Dive Industries Operators of A&N Islands, President, Hoteliers Association, representatives from ACCI, Dive Masters from various Diving Centres and senior functionaries of Barefoot Andaman. Ms. Anisha Kumar, Regional Manager, PADI, Shri Karan Bhatia, Instructor, M/s Scuba Loving Dive and Dr. Ravinder Dogra, Faculty, National Institute of Water Sports (NIWS), Goa participated through Virtual Conference.