Chairing the 7th meeting of the Island Development Agency (IDA) here on Friday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah reviewed the progress of ongoing development initiatives in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep.
The quake hit the islands at 12:53 am on Saturday.
An earthquake of magnitude 4.3 on the Richter scale occurred 183 km southwest of Port Blair in the Andaman and Nicobar islands.
This comes a day later than the earlier announcement last week of the Southwest Monsoon reaching the South Andaman Sea on May 15.
“Yesterday morning, a low-pressure area was formed in south Andaman and southeast Bay of Bengal. We expect it to intensify. It will move in northwest direction and become a cyclonic storm by 8th evening. This will reach Odisha coast on 10th,” Umashankar Das, senior scientist at IMD stated.
The IMD has also warned of strong winds and advised restrictions on tourism activity at the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Against this backdrop, comes the news of building the New Transshipment Terminal in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a part of the grand plan to develop these islands. The terminal is supposed to be built in the island of ‘Great Nicobar’ and entails an overall investment of 100 billion Indian Rupees. This project will be built in Campbell Bay, at Great Nicobar near the national naval station of ‘Baaz’.
The project for 40 electric buses is being executed by NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Limited (NVVN Limited), a 100% subsidiary of NTPC Limited, a PSU under Ministry of Power, Government of India.
The project will enable delivery of faster and more reliable mobile and landline telecommunication services to the islands, on par with other parts of India.
'Andaman and Nicobar is at a strategic location in relation to trade and blue economy,' PM said.
