Bishnu Takes On ANI Admn for Delaying Projects

Bishnu Takes On ANI Admn for Delaying Projects

Bishnu Pada Ray, Member of Parliament today lambasted the Andaman and Nicobar Administration for derailing and delaying many major projects. He was speaking to the media on the sidelines of a presentation by Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi for suggesting the Administration to start Medical PG courses instead of going for a MBBS college in the Islands.

Bishnu said that the undersea cable project, which was the brainchild of previous NDA and UPA governments got entangled in many controversies and now fresh DPR is being prepared. He said that the new cable will directly connect Chennai with Port Blair at a higher cost and will not cover Islands like Kamorta and Campbell Bay. “The new project will take more than four years now,” he said.

Bishnu also said that Andaman Forest Corporation was on the verge of closure due to wrong move of the Administration. He also dealt on the issue of widening of the Andaman Trunk Road, the National Highway connecting Port Blair with Diglipur. He said that the project was put on backburner for more than 10 years. “After my meeting with Mr Nitin Gadkari, we have salvaged the project now,” he said. “When I retrieved the file, I could see that the width was reduced to 5.5 mtrs from 7 mtrs. I convinced the Prime Minister, and now two bridges will also come up and the amount of Rs 1040 crores has been also sanctioned,” Bishnu added.

“Every year, our Islands get Cess charges in petrol and diesel to the tune of Rs 5.5 crores. In the last seven years, an amount of Rs 43 crores is lying with the Administration. The money should have been used by APWD to maintain the road,” Bishnu alleged.

"There were funds for many schemes like drinking water and PMGRY which the Administration could not obtain from the Centre,” he said. On the project for sewerage plant proposed during the tenure of Vivek Rae, Chief Secretary, Bishnu said that the Detailed Project Report was prepared by WAPCOS and submitted to Ministry of Urban Development. He said that the DPR prepared by WAPCOS was erroneous and ultimately the project costing Rs 335 crores was shelved.