Tarun Karthick
Sri Vijaya Puram, 09 July 2025
All outlets in Campbell Bay will stay closed at present, and a chakka jam will probably be staged at Zero Point by the Small Traders Association in protest in opposition to the continuing cargo transportation disaster from Sri Vijaya Puram to Great Nicobar Island.
The protest is being organized in response to the extended unavailability of a correct mode of transporting normal cargo, which has led to a extreme scarcity of important commodities within the area. The final passenger-cum-cargo vessel that carried normal cargo to Campbell Bay reportedly sailed on seventeenth June 2025. Since then, no vessel has transported objects like rice, pulses, oil, milk, and salt—staples that at the moment are on the verge of going out of inventory throughout outlets in Campbell Bay.
While perishable items similar to greens and eggs have been transported on subsequent sailings, area for normal cargo has constantly not been allotted, additional worsening the scenario.
Previously, the newer vessels—Sindhu and Nalanda—maintained a daily schedule to Campbell Bay, with weekly departures from Sri Vijaya Puram. However, one in every of these vessels is at the moment going through technical points, and the opposite is unavailable attributable to its annual survey. At current, MV Campbell Bay is working on the route, however the Directorate of Shipping Services has not permitted it to hold normal cargo, for causes unknown.
With almost a month having handed for the reason that final cargo of normal cargo, shopkeepers report that important items are working dangerously low, prompting rising concern amongst each merchants and residents.
The Small Traders Association has said that it made repeated appeals to the native administration to resolve the problem, however no efficient answer has been offered up to now. The Association will now resort to shutting down all outlets and staging a chakka jam in a bid to attract the eye of upper authorities.
“If the cargo crisis continues, the people of Campbell Bay will soon face an unprecedented shortage of essential items,” a member of the Association warned.
The protest is anticipated to ship a powerful message to the authorities, urging quick intervention to revive common cargo motion and safeguard the livelihoods and each day wants of the individuals in Great Nicobar.
