Hopelessly and Helplessly,Obviously Silently

THE LIGHT OF ANDAMANS | VOL 35 | ISSUE 29 | 16 MARCH 2012

NA KAHU SE BHAIR:

Hopelessly and Helplessly, 

Obviously Silently

By Ramta Jogi

This city is what it is because our citizens are what they are" - Greek philosopher Plato has said. I quite often think that does this sarcastic but candid comment not apply mutatis mutandis to the city and citizens of Port Blair. Be it water supply or be it power supply, the basic civic amenities required for every citizen, even after 64 years of independence, and even after lofty promises made by the Administrator twice a year i.e on Independence Day and on Republic Day, year after year, the citizens of the city of Port Blair are content to compromise and live - hopelessly and helplessly, obviously silently.

No sooner than the Summer begins, there is disruption and curtailment of power supply invariably year after year. Nobody really knows as to whether there is disruption in power supply or it is disrupted! While the Electricity Department of Andaman & Nicobar Administration and the Suryachakra Corporation are too busy in mud-slinging on each other the poor citizens continue to suffer. Some groups are organizing Nukkad Sabhas (street corner meetings) but are such Nukkad Sabhas, in which the orators and the listeners are the same helpless victims going to yield any result? One fact behind power crisis not known to many is that it is absolutely attributable to two "Honourables" - one being the Honourable Administrator of the Union Territory and the other being one of the Honourable Justices of Calcutta High Court. While the first one has no botheration to rampant encroachments on government land going on and on, thereby increasing the demand for power supply, the other one ordered that power supply be given to all even if they are encroachers. While the stalwarts of Electricity Department are very strict in demanding and scrutinizing the land documents of those applicants of power supply who are lawful allottees or purchasers of land, they are too liberal and prompt to extend power supply to encroachers without any valid land records for obvious reasons.

March and April are the months of School as well as CBSE Examinations and load shedding during these months causes immense problem to the students, even adversely affecting their performance. Yet the citizens of the city of Port Blair are content to compromise and live - hopelessly and helplessly, obviously silently.