Date:06/10/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/10/06/stories/2005100605381300.htm

National

Maran moots OFC link to Andaman islands

Similar link between Srinagar and Karu in Leh district of Ladakh region inaugurated

— Photo: Nissar Ahmad

UPDATING SIGNALS: Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology Dayanidhi Maran and Signal Officer-in-chief Lt. Gen. Davinder Kumar at the inauguration of the Srinagar-Leh strategic alliance Optical Fibre Cable network in Srinagar on Wednesday.

SRINAGAR: Information Technology and Communications Minister, Dayanidhi Maran, has mooted linking the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the mainland through an optical fibre cable network. When supplemented with a simple monitoring system this could help alert authorities about natural calamities.

``It is in the early stages at the moment. I have written a letter to the Prime Minister and the Army has also shown interest due to their presence there,'' Mr. Maran told reporters here on Wednesday, after inaugurating the Mercury Streak OFC link between Srinagar and Karu in Leh district of Ladakh region.

The Army Signal Corps, the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and the Border Roads Organisation worked in synergy to lay the 474-km Srinagar-Kargil-Leh-Karu network at a cost of Rs. 13.68 crores in three years.

He said an OFC link between the Andaman and the mainland would give a leeway of at least two hours for the authorities before any natural calamity like tsunami strikes. Sumatra Island (Indonesia) is very prone to earthquakes and Andaman and islands are the first to be hit.

More projects, including some in the north-east, would be carried out in synergy with the armed forces on a symbiotic basis, he said. He thought civilians and the Army could share the benefits of such projects. — PTI