Away from island home, Andaman natives struggle in Chennai

CHENNAI: The lockdown has left about 600 residents of Andaman and Nicobar Islands stranded in Chennai, where they had come on business, for medical treatment or to visit kin. Unlike the rest of the country that is connected by roads and railways, the islands in the Bay of Bengal can be accessed only by air or sea.
Anand Thyagarajan, a businessman from Port Blair, has been staying with a relative at Tiruvottiyur since before the lockdown began on March 24.“I came to Chennai on business and am unable to return because there is no connectivity to Andaman and Nicobar Islands,” he said.
He wonders why no one is trying to help people like him when buses and trains are being run for guest workers and flights are being operated to bring back Indians stranded abroad. “I do not understand why no such effort is being made to return us home. A passenger vessel that was scheduled to take us to our Union territory on May 6 was cancelled,” he said.
Daljeet Kaur of Dollygunj in the Andamans came to the city for medical treatment along with 11 members of her family on March 21, expecting to go back home in a week. But, the lockdown has left them cooped up in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands government guest house at KK Nagar. “We are running out of money and struggling to get back to our hometown,” she said. The family has spent Rs 1 lakh during their stay of two months and lost Rs 20,000 on airfare.
When contacted, Andaman and Nicobar Islands’ deputy resident commissioner in Chennai V Boobalakani said the territorial administration was taking steps to send those stranded here back home by air. “Another 1,100 people are stranded in other parts of the country. The guest house is not charging for accommodation and is providing food free to the stranded people. Measures are being initiated to return them home soon,” she said.