No ship service between Kolkata and Andaman

KOLKATA: For over a month, no passenger vessel has sailed for

Andaman

's

Port Blair

from Kolkata due to non-availability of passenger carriers. Tourists who wish to dawn upon a sea voyage to Andamans do not have a reason to rejoice. Rather the officials of Shipping Corporation of India have warned that this shipping service between Kolkata and Port Blair may have to be stopped forever. They are blaming the indifference of Central Shipping Ministry for this outcome. Many are seeing this as Centre's injustice towards

West Bengal

as shipping services are running normal between Chennai and Port Blair.

Shipping Corporation of India has been controlling the passenger vessels that sail from Kolkata to Andamans. Few years back, three ships- MV Akbar, MV Harshvardhan and MV Nicobar- used to sail on this route. Of these, MV

Akbar

and MV Hashvardhan have been scrapped and sold out by Shipping Corporation. The remaining MV Nicobar started its voyage on July 19 from Kolkata. But on the following morning it hit a jetty under construction near Geonkhali. After initial repairing works it went to Port Blair. From there it was sent to Chennai for a thorough check. Since then it has not yet returned to Kolkata dock. It will take another four months to confirm a total repair. Kolkata shipping office has corresponded with Andaman's Directorate of Shipping Services to resolve this issue but no solution has been reached yet. Read this story in Bangla

The daily workers, who avail this shipping service at a cheap rate to travel to Andamans, are in a huge trouble.

An official has confirmed that cabin fare from Kolkata to Port Blair is around Rs 7,000. Thus many passengers are opting for flights, where tickets can be bought for Rs 7,000 to 8,000. Most of the workers avail bunks, and the fare is too less. This makes it impossible to continue with the huge cost of maintenance. So none is showing any interest to continue passenger vehicles in this route.