THELIGHTOFANDAMANS: COVER STORY | Marine Dockyard: A Big Yawn!

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

COVER STORY | Marine Dockyard: A Big Yawn!

THE LIGHT OF ANDAMANS | VOL 36 | ISSUE 03 | 01 NOV 2012

COVER STORY:

Marine Dockyard: A Big Yawn!

The Marine Dockyard has very good fitting, machine and moulding shops, but remains under-utilized as majority of the 320 and odd workforce doesn't possess the mandatory IRS certification in their trade. Nothing possible has been done yet to make the staff go through the process and get the necessary certification to be competent to repair the vessels. Why should the staff take the initiative? It will only burden them with more work. But if some incentives are provided and the pay weigh made skill-oriented, the dockyard can be put to optimal use.

The same dry dock is used by Coast Guard and they get their work done on time, while most of the vessels managed by DSS or ABS do not keep any time schedule, which has affected the service at all levels. The contractors who work for Coast Guard make the rental payment for the dry dock. And if they overshoot the schedule, they have to bear the brunt. Moreover, Coast Guard always stocks critical spares.

Although there cannot be any comparison of DSS with Coast Guard, but they could have used the basic template followed by Coast Guard. Even private vessels have no such downtime as DSS owned vessels. There is no routine maintenance of the ships due to laid-back planning process.

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About The Light of Andamans

The Light of Andamans’ was born out of the zeal and determination to fight against the suffocating Kafkaesque atmosphere on the society that existed even after 30 years of Independence under bureaucratic rule. It was a hangover of the ‘Raj’that extended much too long in the Islands.

The Light of Andamans’ was started in 1975. The paper had always been a crusader, taking up the causes that no other newspaper would touch. In doing so, it very often stepped on the toes of the authorities and had to face persecution in the form of denial of advertisements and numerous court cases against it. For a small stint, the publication came to a halt in 2003.

Gezira Publications Private Limited took over the paper in the year 2005 and transferred the title in a bid to revive the second oldest newsmagazine from extinction and also to carry forward the mission.

The Newsmagazine, under the new management, has undergone a sea change both in form and content. It turned into a full-fledged tabloid with 10 pages with plenty of photographs making both pleasing to the eyes and soothing for the mind. “It has acquired a position where it influences the policies in vital matters concerning the development of the islands, protection of aboriginal tribes and addressing the problems of the disadvantaged groups. The newsmagazine is known and appreciated for its bold, free, fair and balanced reporting.”

Late Govinda Raju and his team worked very hard to rebuild the reputation, goodwill and a healthy new image of the newsmagazine brick by brick. After the demise of Mr Raju in 2010, the magazine is now being edited by Zubair Ahmed and published by Basudev Dass. The newsmagazine continues its mission of highlighting policy issues pertaining to the Islands.