Andaman scribes join hands on water conservation

Port Blair, Feb 11: All the scribes and owners of newspapers in Andaman and Nicobar islands have join hands to form a core group "Vikash Manch" and spread awareness of water conservation in the remote archipelago.

"We have decided to launch a massive drive to spread awareness among islanders about conserving water as the first major task of the Vikash Manch, " Govind Raju the convener of Vikash Manch told UNI today.

Andaman and Nicobar was presently reeling under water scarcity, and the experts had attributed one of the reasons of this scarcity to wastage of water from houses and leaking pipelines.

"Presently we have thirty per cent wastage of water, which is huge and the best short term measure to deal with water shortage will be to minimize this wastage. The Vikash Manch has taken the responsibility and soon we will launch the awareness campaign with the help of local media, " Raju said, also the Editor of an English Weekly in Andaman.

The Vikash Manch, a forum for intellectuals in Andamans, is the brainchild of Dr G.D.Badgaiyan, the secretary to Andaman's Information and Publicity Department.

The forum was formed recently by Scribes of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, in which serious matters will be taken up for public interests inviting top officials and intellectuals, and water crisis would figure first.

"This is the platform where general public can openly ask questions to senior officers in any serious matters and every discussion will be covered by all print and electronic media, " Raju said.

In its recently held meeting all the local scribes had decided to take up water shortage issue. For the present mission the Vikash Manch will work with the help of local Andaman Public Works Department and Ministry of Central Groundwater Resources.

UNI