Islands Development Agency to Develop Andamans Under Optical Fibre Cable Project

After remaining defunct for over two decades, the Islands Development Agency has moved in swiftly to develop the Andaman and Nicobar islands as an optical fibre cable project which is expected to be completed by the middle of 2020.

The project will provide high-speed connectivity to the rest of the country.

“Optical Fibre Cable connecting Chennai to Port Blair and 7 Islands is as per the schedule and will be completed by June 2020,” officials in Andaman administration told India Today TV.

The agency has also identified three new islands to be developed by private players for promoting and expanding tourism which will give India the capacity to keep an eye on the Chinese movement in the Indian Ocean region.

The agency is also working to resolve the man-animal dispute in the islands. Under the project, the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, has sent the final action plan prescribing the Standard Operating Protocol (SOP) for mitigation of human crocodile conflict in Andaman island.

“The Action Plan has been circulated to all Divisional Forest Officers with the direction to delineate the management zones in their respective jurisdictions,” the officials.

The agency was revived about two years ago under former Navy Chief and present Lieutenant Governor Admiral DK Joshi.

The IDA was established during the tenure of the late former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in the 1980s but it was defunct. However, in the last two years, the agency has held five meetings to discuss all important aspects of developing the territory.

Source: IT

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