Tourism tingle for tsunami-troubled town

Port Blair, Nov 26 (UNI) Nearly two years after the tsunami, the islands of Andaman and Nicobar are again bustling with tourists, but ''unexpected'' inflow has brought more trouble than money to the local administration.

Three deaths in last two months, stone pelting on tourists, insufficient lodging facilities and innumerable police complaints by the tourists have given sleepless nights to the administration.

Official sources said infrastructure in these remote scattered islands were inadequate for handling huge rush of tourists which is the main reason behind this mismanagement.

Situated 1200 kms away from Mainland India, the chain of 572 small and big islands was now connected with about 10 daily flights from Chennai, Kolkata and New Delhi, three mega cities of India, bringing in hundreds of tourists everyday.

Andaman islands used to get nearly one lakh tourists every year before tsunami but in the first few months of this year's tourist season, these islands have already received more than 60,000 tourists, leaving the local administration high and dry.

''Infrastructure is not adequate at present. All the guest houses and hotels are full. So we are forced to ask our guests to stay in small rooms,'' president of Association of Tour Operators M Vinod said.

''At presents tourists are seen sleeping even in the lawns of many hotels due to non-availability of rooms. Even sometimes they are forced to sleep in parks. Many tour operators are hiring private houses to accommodate the tourists,'' he said.

In a hurried decision the local administration has put lifeguards from Indian Navy in one of its famous beach as a stop gap arrangement but most of the other serious issues remain unattended.

''From 2007 onwards our main aim would be to put the basic infrastructure in place to manage these kind of problems effectively,'' Ms S P Sodi, the newly appointed Special secretary-cum -Director of Tourism, said.

Ms Sodi has also initiated efforts for starting a Paying Guest Scheme in Andamans under which registered families would be able to keep tourists in their houses and earn money.

''This would also solve the lodging problem here to a large extent,'' she said.

Different departments like Revenue, Police and Forest are meeting regularly to tackle the huge rush of tourists.

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