A decade after SC order, govt fails to shut Andaman road

NEW DELHI: Nearly 10 years after the Supreme Court asked the administration to shut down the Andaman Trunk Road cutting through the Jarawa Reserve on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the government has failed to do so.

The road, which cuts through the heart of the reserve of the aborigines' community land, was ordered shut in accordance with the Shekhar Singh report. The apex court had passed the order way back in 2002.

The committee had recommended, "The Andaman Trunk Road should be closed to all vehicular traffic from Miletilak in south Andaman to the northern boundary of the south Andaman Island." It had also said traffic on the road in middle Andaman up to Kaushalaya Nagar be shut down. It had recommended a time frame of three months to do so while demanding that no person except for the Jarawas living in the reserve should be allowed to enter it by any means unless they are permitted to do so by the government to help the community in development work.

The island administration filed an application against the order but the apex court has neither stayed it nor passed any new directives. Now, NGO Kalpvriksh has sent notice to the chief secretary of the administration asking why it should not go for legal action to get the government to follow the court order. The NGO stated the aborigine tribe has been left open to threat from ecological damage in the area as well as exploitation because of the road remaining operational.