Port Blair, Mar 16: The ANTCC Campaign Committee Chairman Mr. TSG Bhasker on Thursday demanded to withdraw the order vide No. 642 issued by A&N Administration dated 13th March, 2023 for curtailment of Electricity in A & N Islands.
In a letter addressed to the Lt. Governor, A&N Islands, Mr. Bhasker said “In this era of modernization and technological advancement, we are going back to the olden days where we used to have a limited supply of electricity. This has happened due to poor policy making of the Electricity Department and A&N Administration”.
He alleged that “There has been no regular SE or EE in the Electricity Department to manage various sections of the department for many years. The Administration also did not take any steps to fill up these posts. As a result today the issues of Islanders are getting unheard and not addressed in a time bound manner”.
He further said “The Congress Party will strongly protest over this kind of curtailment, where the businessmen whose business is between 6 pm to 8 pm or 6 pm to 9 pm have been affected severely due to this new order. Due to the poor planning of Administration, the business community people have been already suffering after the pandemic, and now this order of A&N Administration has added to their miseries”.
“It is surprising to note that shops and other establishments who do not have a generator facility are forced to close their business by 7 pm. Also Hotel Industry is worst affected due to closure of Port Blair Airport runway continuously for 4 days or even more in a month and now usage of generators during the peak time between 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm is ordered by the Administration which is not reasonable or justified”, he added.
Mr. Bhasker suggested immediately initiating action to complete the 50 MW LNG Project at Hope Town (Bambooflat) which can only solve the long standing power requirements of the South Andaman region.
Hence, he requested the Lt. Governor to consider the genuine request and take corrective measures to provide uninterrupted power supply to the Islanders at the earliest as it is the basic need of every Islanders.