The UPA Chairperson, Smt. Sonia Gandhi on second leg of her two-day visit to the Islands, she visited Car Nicobar  and Campbell Bay on 28/02/2009. She was accompanied by the Lt. Governor, Lt General (Retd) Bhopinder Singh, PVSM, AVSM, and Shri Pallam Raju, Hon’ble MoS (Defence). Shortly, after her arrival to Car Nicobar, she proceeded to the Tsunami Memorial at Big Lapathy and laid wreath at the memorial and paid homage to all those, who lost their lives in the tsunami of 26th December 2004.

  Thereafter, she proceeded to Perka village and inaugurated a Community Building and handed over the Symbolic Key of Permanent Shelters at a function. She handed over the first key to Shri. Aberdeen Blair, Chairman, Tribal Council and also a list of 300 tsunami survivors to whom permanent shelters are allotted. She then gave away the allotment orders of Permanent Shelters to five tsunami-survivors from different villages.

  In her address on the occasion, she acknowledged the courage of the islanders in overcoming the trauma of the devastating tsunami and their resolve to bring back life to normalcy. She reiterated the Govt's commitment towards rehabilitating the tsunami affected people of the Islands and expressed her happiness over the progress made so far and thanked the general public for their cooperation.

  In his welcome address on the occasion, the Lt. Governor highlighted the kind gesture of the Govt. of India towards rehabilitation of the tsunami affected islanders. He also highlighted the various developmental projects taken up for the development of the Islands, Car Nicobar and southern group of the Islands in particular.

  Earlier, on her arrival to Car Nicobar, Smt. Gandhi was accorded traditional welcome. Among others, she was received by the C-in-C, Andaman Nicobar Command, Vice Admiral Vijay Shankar, PVSM, AVSM, Chief Secretary, Shri Vivek Rae, Member of Parliament, Shri Manoranjan Bhakta, Chairman, Tribal Council, Shri Aberdeen Blair and officers of the Administration.