Reuters Posted online: Saturday, January 08, 2005 at 0959 hours IST Updated: Saturday, January 08, 2005 at 1118 hours IST
Port Blair, January 8: Relief work on the tsunami-ravaged Andaman and Nicobar Islands has slowed down because government officials were preparing for a visit by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday, aid workers said.
More than 6,000 people are feared to have died on the remote chain of islands, devastated by the December 26 tsunami triggered a huge earthquake off Indonesia.
"For the last three days, officials have done little else except make pie charts, graphs, files for the prime minister's visit," said Dr Vikram Tirkey from the Emmanuel Hospitals Association, who is waiting for permission to begin relief work in the Andamans.
Hundreds of people on the islands, about 1,200 km off India's east coast, are stranded in jungles and hills, living off coconuts, bananas and food packets and water dropped from the air.
"At a time like this, how can you have the administration doing nothing except preparing for the visit," said Alex Joseph, senior project officer from a New Delhi-based voluntary Christian group Discipleship Centre.
"It is an emergency situation, we are talking of a situation where rescue and evacuation is still going on," said Alex Joseph,
Officials say food and water has reached all islands, but many people living in interior areas had not yet received any aid because roads had been washed away.
Singh, who delayed his tour to the island chain to allow relief work to get off the ground, was due to travel to the Nicobar group of islands which took the brunt of the giant waves, and meet survivors in relief camps.
Joseph said his group wanted to adopt 10,000 families on any island immediately to begin relief and rehabilitation, but the administration had been sitting on the proposal.
On Friday when he went to inquire about it, he was told to come on Monday, after Singh's visit.
Ruled directly from New Delhi, many of the islands are off limits to foreigners and mainland Indians, ostensibly to protect their fragile ecology and tribal cultures.
In addition, the Indian military has a major presence on the islands, which sit astride vital trade routes heading west from the Straits of Malacca.
After the civil administration failed to quickly respond to the disaster, the military took over relief work bringing in supplies from the mainland on giant planes and ships.
"We have enough relief material, the challenge is to reach it to every survivor," said Lieutenant General B.S.Thakur, local military commander.
Port Blair, January 8: Relief work on the tsunami-ravaged Andaman and Nicobar Islands has slowed down because government officials were preparing for a visit by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday, aid workers said.
