The Hon’ble Lt. Governor, Lt. General (Retd) Bhopinder Singh, PVSM, AVSM, handed over the the symbolic key of 325 dwelling units constructed for the tsunami affected people of Car Nicobar in a function held at Arong on 08/10/2008 . The Chief Secretary, Shri Vivek Rae, the Commissioner (R&R), Shri Arvind Ray and Project Manager, CPWD accompanied the Lt. Governor on his visit. 

      The Lt. Governor handed over the symbolic key to the Vice Chief Captain, Tribal Council, Shri Chamberlin Paul. He also handed over the keys of the shelters along with the allotment orders to 10 beneficiaries on the occasion.

      Praising the courage shown by the people of this island to come out of the trauma associated with tsunami, the Lt. Governor said, all facilities will be provided in these permanent shelters to cater to the needs of the people. He pointed out that of the 325 shelters, 19 have come up in Kakana, 49 in Perka, 19 in Kimious, 68 in Malacca, 103 in Arong and 67 in Big Lapathy.

      Turning his attention to other development activities being undertaken by the Administration, the Lt. Governor disclosed that National Rural Employment Guarantee Act scheme was first implemented in Nicobar district in these islands and 108 administratively approved works are ready for execution. Under National Rural Health Mission specialist Doctors and two general duty officers have been posted in BJR Hospital. The renovation of the Operation Theatre will be completed by third week of this month. A Sub Centre has been recently opened in Malacca for the benefit of the villagers of the area. Efforts are on to upgrade CHC, Nancowry and PHC, Campbell Bay to Indian Public Health Standards and work in this regard is in different stages of completion, he added.

      The Lt. Governor further stated that the Ministry of Minority Affairs, GoI has identified Nicobar district as Minority Concentration District and for the overall development of the area, a Multi- Sectoral Development Plan is needed and the Office of DC, Nicobar is working to finalise such a plan. To increase the coconut produce, processing and marketing, the Agriculture department, Coconut Development Board, CARI and Coir Industry is jointly putting in their efforts to motivate people to switch over to advanced technologies. “If all goes well, we will be launching Coconut Mission in Nicobar district”, the LG stated. With the introduction of shipping service twice a week to Car Nicobar and other group of islands, the long-felt plight of the people of the area have been solved to a large extent, he said.

      The Chief Secretary, Shri Vivek Rae in his address on the occasion urged the people of Nicobar to utilize the opportunities before them to excel in all fields especially like Education. He also asked them to make optimum use of employment generation schemes.