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Most of the tsunami victims still live in shacks

Ramya Kannan

Over three years after the catastrophe, rehabilitation work ‘dead slow’ on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands

— Photo: Ramya Kannan

LONG HAUL AHEAD: Permanent shelters at Bamboo Flat.

PORT BLAIR: Over three years after the tsunami nearly flattened parts of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, rehabilitation work is still on. Its progress seems slower than in other parts of the country.

A scene from the picturesque Bamboo Flat permanent tenements is representative of the work in the entire archipelago. Completed houses, papered with expensive bamboo patterns, stand beside blocks of cement sticking out of wet mud — the skeletal foundations of homes that should have been built.

In the distance, just short of the lush green hillocks on the other side, stand a series of tin shacks that are part of the temporary settlements for those resettled after the tsunami. People are still living in them.

A total of 9,797 houses had to be constructed, the bulk of them (7,966) by the Central Public Works Department. The Andamans Public Works Department has been entrusted with another 1,122 and NGOs, 709 houses. Initially, the NGOs committed themselves to building 2,500 houses, but later withdrew, daunted by the exacting circumstances in the islands. The government had to take that up as well.

The superstructures, being built in the mainland and shipped to the islands, have been erected only in 26 per cent of homes.

A total of 100 houses have been occupied and another 350 are ready to be handed over. By March 2009, 8,895 houses are scheduled to be complete, the remaining will have to be postponed due to adverse working and climactic conditions, authorities say.

Among the amenities being provided are water and sewer lines, electricity connection and community buildings. “We are not unhappy with the quality of the permanent shelters. In fact we don’t think of that at all. Having lived for nearly three years in temporary shelters, we were so happy to move that we have not actually noticed the flaws,” says K. Appa Rao, who is on the Tsunami Victims Committee in Bamboo Flat.

However, he is emphatic in his castigation of the progress of work. “Progress is dead slow. Look (pointing to an area where the pillars of a foundation are visible) at this, we wonder if the others in the temporary shelters will ever get relief?”

Dharam Pal, who was until recently Relief Commissioner in the islands, says: “There are some serious challenges to construction in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The islands are scattered over 550 km and there is a huge distance from the mainland, from where construction material needs to be ferried.”

To make things worse, he adds, the connectivity is so poor it is impossible sometimes to even access some islands, like Chowra, during most parts of the year. Mid-sea transfer of construction materials onto pontoons becomes necessary. In a heavily forested island, environmental clearances for acquiring land also pose problems, he adds.

CPWD authorities say it is tough to find labourers, especially in the southern batch of islands. It is demoralising to work in continuous rain and in areas endemic to cerebral malaria. Since the local tribes are unwilling to be involved in construction, labourers have to be brought from the mainland. They will have to be replaced in a year or less, as they refuse to stay longer, officials explain.

K.G. Das, Andaman state secretary, Communist Party of India (Marxist), says: “We do understand that the inherent difficulties in the region might hamper rehabilitation work, but the slow pace of work is just not acceptable. Rehabilitation should have been taken up on a war footing.”

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