24.02.2014
Rs. 2.00
Andaman Sheekha
Daily
Port Blair
3
Viper Prison Break N. Francis Xavier
Part XXIV, (Continued from last week) Colonel Cadell sat at his desk writing slowly, with long pauses, draft of a letter addressed to the Governor General in Council. The subject of his letter was “Indefensibility of the Andaman and Nicobar Is-
lands”. He had before him copy of a demi-official letter on the same subject by his predecessor Gen. Barwell. It was dated 30th May 1878. From a soldier ’s point of view he felt that the Islands could be taken in a matter of hours in case of an attack by an enemy power. The little garrison on Ross Island held less than two hundred European troops. They only had an old gun meant mainly for ceremonial purposes. The guard ship had one more gun, a smooth-bored cannon with very limited range. The loyalty of the sepoys and convicts was doubtful. Sitting alone in the
huge Government House on Ross Island Cadell pondered about the ways the islands could be defended against enemy attack. He visualized an attack, mainly by the Russians. There were alarming reports of the Russians moving closer to the borders of India. They too wanted a piece of the cake that was India, along with the British, the French, the Dutch and the Portuguese. They were threatening the North West Frontier Areas, but they have a huge armada also. In case they want they can easily send a fleet from their Black Sea ports, take the Andamans, regroup and then attack Calcutta, the capital of Brit-
ish Indian Empire. Finally Cadell took his official letter pad and started writing a fair copy. After writing “Confidential” at the top he wrote in his flowing hand, “ In view of the apparently not improbable eventuality of war with Russia I deem it my duty to bring the defenceless state of this settlement to the consideration of the Government of India. If no means are taken to protect the settlement, Port Blair might become a very convenient rendezvous for the enemy cruisers sent to prey on the commerce of the Bay of Bengal. Cadell paused to check his notes and continued, “Under the circumstances I trust the Government of India will see fit, in the event of war, to order tortook away the pedoes to be sent to Port COMCG(A&N) GOLF CUP Blair with someone of expecategory title Net Stable Ford rience to place them and winner. In the Chip & Putt categories Capt TV Sunil & Mrs Vandana Sunil won and Air Marshal Roy & Mrs Ranjna Roy were the runner up. The COMCG A&N Golf Cup 2014 Rolling Trophy was Port Blair, February 23: The awar ded to Lt Cdr AK Lt Governor held a meeting Singh. A communiqué re- with senior officers of ceived from Commandant Doordarshan Kendra, Port Rajeev Sharma, PRO Coast Blair, to discuss the issue of Guard. extended telecast of the
CGRH Conducts COMCG(A&N) Golf Cup 2014 Port Blair, Feb 23: The COMCG(A&N) Golf Cup 2014 was conducted by Coast Guard Region Headquarters (A&N) on 22 FEB 2014 at ANCOM Links Port Blair. AIR MARSHAL PK ROY, PVSM, AVSM, VM, VSM, ADC COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF ANDAMAN & NICOBAR COMMAND was the chief guest for the prize distribution ceremony. The event was also attended by senior officers and service personnel and their families from all the components. The Golf Cup 2014 was attended by the Golfers from all Components under HQ ANC. Large number of participants took part in the championship and participated in six categories viz Longest drive, Max pars, Max Birdies, Chip & Putt, Nearest to pin, Gross score and Stable Ford (COMCG(A&N) GOLF CUP Champion). The event concluded with a prize distribution cer-
emony, wherein Chief Guest Air Marshal PK Roy, Commander-in-Chief A&N Command distributed the prizes to the winners. Col Amit Kumar won Longest Drive, Capt AK Chauhan won Maximum Birdies and Cdr Umesh Gupta won Maximum Pars. The Nearest to pin prize was won by Cdr BS Parihar, Gross winner was Capt AK Chauhan and Net Stable Ford runner up was Cdr PK Pandey. Lt Cdr AK Singh
make use of them in time of need. A gentle knock on the door interrupted him. A look of irritation crossed his face but quickly vanished when he saw Birch glide in. Birch came to attention and saluted. “Hello, Bill. Is everything under control? All the convicts accounted for? I don’t want to hear of one more escape. “No sir. I just got semagraph reports from all the divisions. All returned from work and accounted for. Two deaths in hospital; one still birth from the Andamanese Home. “That’s jolly good. I was writing a letter to the Government about the defencelessness of our islands in the event of war. Are (See page 6)
Extended telecast by Doordarshan programmes from the local Doordarshan Kendra, Port Blair.DDK, Port Blair will now on have extended telecast i.e. from 5.00 pm to 8.00 pm from 1st May 2014.