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Andaman And Nicobar Islands
Union Home Minister Amit Shah and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat are scheduled to unveil a statue of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands on Friday, officials said. Shah arrived here around 12.30 am, while Bhagwat reached the archipelago on Thursday evening, they said. Bhagwat and Shah are scheduled to unveil the statue of Savarkar at Beodnabad in South Andaman around 2.30 pm, the officials said. They will also be present at an event to release a song on Savarkar at BR Ambedkar Institute of Technology here around 4 pm. Savarkar was jailed in the Cellular Jail in Port Blair (now known as Sri Vijaya Puram) by the British in 1911. The Union home minister is likely to leave the islands on Friday evening. Bhagwat is scheduled to address a public gathering on Saturday under the banner of 'Virat Hindu Sammelan' at Netaji Stadium around 3.30 pm in Sri Vijaya Puram, the officials said. On Sunday, the RSS chief will attend another gathering at DBRAIT around 10 am, and depa
Union Home Minister Amit Shah is likely to visit the Andaman and Nicobar Islands for a day to commemorate the 116th anniversary of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar's iconic poem Sagara Pran Talamala', officials said on Tuesday. A senior official said they have received preliminary information about Shah's arrival either on December 11 or 12 at the Veer Savarkar International Airport, but the final itinerary is awaited. Police sources said that according to initial information, Shah will attend an event on December 12 in Beodnabad in South Andaman, where a statue of Savarkar will be unveiled. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat is also scheduled to attend the ceremony. In the evening, the home minister is likely to address a public gathering at the Dr B R Ambedkar Institute of Technology (DBRAIT) in Sri Vijaya Puram, where a song dedicated to Savarkar will be formally released. "He is also supposed to inaugurate a newly built forensic science laboratory in Sri Vijaya Puram
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an alert in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands due to a cyclonic circulation over the Bay of Bengal, which is likely to intensify from November 21, an official said on Thursday. Heavy to very heavy rainfall (07-20 cm) is very likely to occur at one or two places in Nicobar Island and heavy rainfall (07-11 cm) is also expected in Andaman Island. "Thunderstorms with gusty wind (40-50 kilometres per hour) and lightning are also very likely to occur at one or two places over Andaman and Nicobar Islands on November 24 and 25," the official said. Squally weather with surface wind speed reaching 35-45 kmph gusting to 55 kmph is very likely over the Andaman Sea. "Sea condition is also likely to be rough. Fishermen have been advised not to venture into the Andaman Sea till November 23. We have issued a Local Cautionary Signal-3 at Port Blair Port," the official said. Due to the possibility of surging waves, boat owners, islanders and touris
Andaman and Nicobar Islands Lieutenant Governor Admiral D K Joshi has said tourism in the archipelago witnessed a massive surge in post-Covid years. Addressing a tourism conclave at Udaipur in Rajasthan on Tuesday, the Lt. Governor said, "I would like to highlight that there has been a post-COVID tourism resurgence in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, with domestic arrivals rising nearly 200 per cent and international tourists up 157 per cent since 2022." "The Andaman and Nicobar administration is poised to set three Guinness World Records in diving to position the islands as a premier scuba diving hub in the Indian Ocean Region," he said. He added that there are plans to develop unique diving circuits around the Button Islands (North/South/Middle Andaman), Barren Island (South Asia's only active volcano), and the pristine beaches of Swaraj Dweep. The Lt. Governor informed about the core strategic initiative for Heritage Tourism Circuit encompassing National Memorial sites, which includ
The CID of Andaman and Nicobar Police has filed a 50,000-page chargesheet in the ANSCBL loan scam case and has named 100 people and firms as accused, including Congress's ex-Andaman MP Kuldeep Rai Sharma, an officer said on Sunday. The chargesheet was filed on Saturday in the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Court in Port Blair. A total of eight accused, including Sharma, K Murugan, managing director, ANSCBL and K Kalaivanan, manager (loan), have been arrested in the Andaman and Nicobar State Cooperative Bank Limited (ANSCBL) loan scam. Sharma is a former chairman of ANSCBL. Speaking to PTI, Senior Superintendent of Police (CID), Jitendra Kumar Meena said, "During the course of investigation, a total of 23 shell companies were identified and busted. These entities had no genuine business operations and were created solely for fraudulently availing high-value loans and diverting public funds." "Our officers conducted more than 10 search and seizure operations at various offices, ...
Flagging "core concerns" over the Great Nicobar Mega Infrastructure Project, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday claimed that it will disrupt and displace the tribal communities and threaten their survival and well-being which would go against all extant regulations, policies, and laws. The former environment minister said the public debate on the project continues with chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party Sonia Gandhi writing on it on September 8 in a newspaper and Union Minister of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change Bhupendra Yadav responding to it four days later. "But his response did not address the core concerns being raised - The environmental impact assessment conducted was rushed, incomplete, and flawed," he said on X. The fact that further impact studies have been mandated after the project has been granted clearance shows up its limitations, he argued. It is surprising that the assessment began even before terms of reference for it were issued, Rame
Terming the Great Nicobar infrastructure project a "planned misadventure", Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Monday said it poses an existential danger to the island's indigenous tribal communities and is being insensitively pushed through, making a "mockery of all legal and deliberative processes". The collective conscience cannot, and must not, stay silent when the very survival of the Shompen and Nicobarese tribes is at stake, Gandhi said in an article published in 'The Hindu'. "Our commitment to future generations cannot permit this large-scale destruction of a most unique ecosystem. We must raise our voice against this travesty of justice and this betrayal of our national values," she said in her article titled 'The making of an ecological disaster in the Nicobar'. Hitting out at the Modi government, the former Congress president said there has been no shortage of "half-baked and ill-conceived policymaking" in the last 11 years. "The latest in this serie
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence under the chairmanship of BJP MP Radha Mohan Singh will visit Port Blair on Wednesday, an official said. The committee will review the preparedness of India's only tri-command at Andaman and Nicobar Islands during the visit, the official said on Tuesday. The Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC), is the only tri-services command in India, and it aims to bring greater synergy among the Army, the Navy and the Air Force. Apart from Radha Mohan Singh, nine Members of Parliament Shashank Mani, Virendra Singh, Shaktisinh Gohil, Naresh Bansal, Lumba Ram, Jagannath Sarkar, Muzibulla Khan, Sanjay Singh and S Jothimani will visit the archipelago. An official said the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence will be accompanied by five officials from the Lok Sabha and one senior Defence official, including Juby Amar (Director and secretary to the delegation). During the visit, the committee will be welcomed by Lieutenant General Dinesh Singh R
Top hospitality companies, including Tata group's IHCL and Hyatt Hotels Corp, have shown interest in developing eco-tourism resorts at four locations in Andamans, including the uninhabited Aves Island, which will be opened for tourism for the first time, officials said on Saturday. The eco-tourism properties will be developed on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis at Neil Island, Aves Island, Long Island and Smith Island. Besides, the administration is also looking to redevelop the Megapode Resort in Port Blair, they said. The Andaman & Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation Ltd (ANIIDCO) on July 28 invited bids for developing the resorts on a design, build, finance, operate and transfer basis, they added. A virtual pre-bid meeting was held on August 14, and it was attended by officials of some of the biggest players of the sector, including The Leela, Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL), Club Mahindra, Hyatt Hotels Corp, Ambuja Neotia Hospitality, Chalet Hotels,
Residents of Andaman and Nicobar Islands can now get their apartments and flats registered as the administration is in the process of finalising the apartment ownership regulation, an official said on Monday. Speaking to PTI, a senior official said, "The Andaman and Nicobar Island Apartment Ownership Regulation, 2025, aims to facilitate individual registration of flats and apartments for the benefit of residents of these islands." He informed that the administration has prepared the draft regulation in coordination with the departments concerned. "This initiative aims to regularise and streamline apartment ownership and registration processes in the Union Territory. To maintain transparency and inclusivity, we have incorporated the views and suggestions of the general public, especially from stakeholders associated with the real estate and housing sectors. A meeting was held today in this regard, and the response was good," he added. According to the existing rule, any private ...
The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday conducted its first-ever searches in Andaman and Nicobar Islands as part of a money laundering case probe linked to an alleged cooperative bank loan 'fraud' involving a former MP from the Union Territory, official sources said. The case pertains to the Andaman Nicobar State Cooperative Bank (ANSCB) and its vice chairman Kuldeep Rai Sharma. Sharma, a 57-year-old Congress leader, is a former MP of the UT (2019-24). Nine places in and around Port Blair and two in Kolkata were raided by the officials of the central probe agency under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the sources said. This is the first time that the agency has undertaken searches in the Union Territory located in the Bay of Bengal, they said. Sources said the agency has recovered some documents pointing towards "large-scale" irregularities in the grant of loans and overdraft facilities by ANSC Bank. The role of former Congress MP Sharma is also under the scanner of
Tribal communities in Great Nicobar are not opposed to development but lack sufficient information about a proposed mega infrastructure project on the island, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) member Asha Lakra has said. The project, titled Holistic Development of Great Nicobar, involves the construction of a transshipment port, an international airport, a township and a power plant over more than 160 sq. km of land. This includes around 130 sq. km of pristine forest inhabited by the Nicobarese, a Scheduled Tribe (ST), and the Shompens, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG), whose population is estimated to be between 200 and 300. In an interview with PTI, Lakra said she led an NCST team to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands from June 5 to 7 to review the issues faced by the tribal communities. She said the commission held a detailed meeting with representatives of all tribal groups, including the Great Andamanese, Jarawa, Nicobarese and Shompens. "We met ...