Kerala   

SCI told to hand over ships

KOCHI: Upset by the undue delay on the part of the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) in putting back to service two passenger ships, the Lakshadweep Administration has decided to take them back from the SCI and ask the Lakshadweep Development Corporation Limited to operate them.

The two 100-passenger high-speed vessels, m.v. Khadeeja Beevi and m.v. Hameedath Bee, were pulled out of service by the SCI for repairs a year ago.

The ships, used for inter-island transportation, had to be normally put back to service in September-October, but the SCI could not get the repairs done for nearly a year. This hit Lakshadweep residents’ movement between islands. Following constant pressure, one of the vessels was returned after repair on April 14, while the other was still with the SCI, administration officials said.

Following a review of the shipping needs of the island group at a meeting held at Kochi recently, Administrator B.V. Selvaraj ordered that the two vessels be taken back from the SCI within a month and handed over to the LDCL for operation. The SCI has been manning and operating five vessels owned by the administration — Tipu Sultan, Dweep Setu, Khadeeja Beevi, Hameedath Bee and Suheli.

The Corporation will now operate only Tipu Sultan and Dweep Setu and the oil barge Suheli. Tipu Sultan is currently in dry dock and is expected to be back at sea by mid-May.

A. Hamza, director of the Union Territory’s Port, Shipping and Aviation, said that when the two vessels are handed over to the LDCL, local youths trained in seafaring would be able to get jobs closer home. He said that the SCI had been asked to hand over the ships to the LDCL by the first week of May this year.

Transportation — among the islands as well as between the island group and the mainland — is a crucial issue in Lakshadweep. The islanders have to ferry to the mainland for medical treatment, higher education and many routine services. They also have to import all their daily needs from the mainland.

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