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Making of permanent shelters opposed

Prachi Pinglay

1,200 protesters march into police station in Little Andaman

PORT BLAIR: Over 1,200 persons marched into a police station at Hutbay in Little Andaman, about 122 km from here, on Friday to protest against the construction of permanent shelters. They accused the police of resorting to a lathi-charge without giving warning and of not having women constables at the scene.

About two years after the tsunami struck the islands, leaving several thousand people homeless, the administration began construction of permanent shelters a few months ago. About 9,000 shelters have to be built, 1,974 in Little Andaman. However, work has halted due to the protests.

Superintendent of Police Jaspal Singh said: "Around 1,200 persons marched into the police station after they were dissatisfied with the tehsil's office. They wanted the police to intervene and speak to the administration. How are we to do that? When they wanted mass arrests, the police officials started taking their names down. Someone from the crowd then threw bottles and the crowd had to be removed by mild force. An executive magistrate was present in the police station and he gave them a warning."

Over 20 persons, including policemen, suffered cut injuries. Congress MP Manoranjan Bhakta and the former BJP MP, Bishnupada Ray, assured the protesters that they would speak to the administration.

Rakesh Singh, an engineer working on the intermediate shelter projects, said: "It is difficult to resolve the conflict. These people are used to living in separate houses. They have had several problems in the intermediate shelters. Some keep animals; some grow vegetables. The Government design is good for officials, but it will be difficult for the people to share a common area. Imagine, one family grows vegetables and the other rears goats. There won't be any vegetables left."

The problem existed only among the non-tribal population. The tribals had accepted the Government design as they were provided plots of their choice. Culturally, they live together in huge families, he added.

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Making of permanent shelters opposed

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