Diglipur

Diglipur (Hindi: दिगलीपुर; sometimes spelled Diglipore) is the largest town of North Andaman Island, in the Andaman Archipelago, India.

The city is located on the southern side of Aerial Bay, at 43 metres (141 feet) above sea level, 290 kilometres (180 miles) north of Port Blair. It is crossed by the Kalpong River, the only river of the Andaman islands. Saddle Peak, the highest point in the archipelago,[1] lies about 10 km to the south.

Diglipur is also a county (tehsil) of the North and Middle Andaman District of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands union territory. Its area is 884 km2, and its population was 42,877 people as of 2001|.[1] Its postal (PIN) code is 744202.

Total Geographical Area-1400.69 km2

Area under Revenue villages-20464.93 Hects.

Population-43,183 persons

Sex Ratio-911

Density of population-49 persons per km2

Major languages-Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. Major Crops – Rice, Coconut, Areca nut, Pulses and vegetables Main Source of livelihood – Agriculture. Headquarters – Diglipur

Resources

Demographic Features

As per the Population Census-2011 the total number of households listed under Diglipur Tehsil is 10,702.

Total Population of Revenue villages Sex Ratio Population in age group 0–6 years Child Sex Ratio Literacy rate (%)
Persons Male Female Persons Male Female Persons Male Female
43183 22599 20584 911 5174 2631 2543 967 82.24 87.36 76.58

Land Utilization of revenue surveyed area under Diglipur Sub-Division

Govt. Dept.

(In Hect)

 PRIs

(InHect)

 Settlers

(In Hect)

 Central Govt. Dept

(In Hect)

 Defence

(In Hect)

 Other than Settler

(In Hect)

 Area under encroach

Ment

(In Hect)

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
1229.5019 25.7131 5547.5433 1.3500 136.2270 438.7730 492.0100
Area free from all encumbrances

(In Hect)

 Land under water/ Road

(In Hect)

 Forest / Grazing land

(In Hect)

 Total

Revenue Surveyed area

(In Hect)

8. 9. 10. 11.
6.0000 1137.52254 11450.28916 20464.9300

INFRASTRUCTURES

Roads :

Out of 34 Revenue villages 27 villages are connected by black toped road except three villages i.e. Sagardweep, Nischintapur, and Jagannathdera due to cut off area from ATR. The newly notified 04 revenue villages i.e. Paschimsagar, Gandhinagar, Shantinagar & Ganeshnagar are also not connected with black toped road.

Drinking Water Source:

Throughout Diglipur Tehsil drinking water is supplied through pipe line by the APWD department from the source of Kalpong River. In some cut off villages i.e. Nischintapur, Jagannathdera, Paschimsagar, Gandhinagar, Shantinagar & Ganeshnagar ring wells are the source of water.

Transports:

Diglipur Tehsil can be accessed through all the three mode of transport road, sea and air transport as necessary infrastructures are readily available over here to facilitate these services.

a) Road Transport: Road transport plays a vital role in the development of the Tehsil at large. Most of the businessmen are depend on road transport for running their commercial activities throughout the Tehsil because road transport is largely considered as easy and time saving. Diglipur Tehsil is connected by road with the District HQ at Mayabunder. A good number of private and Govt. buses are plying throughout the Tehsil and providing routine services from Baratang to Diglipur via Rangat and vice-versa. Apart from this, private and Govt. buses are also rendering daily express service from Port Blair to Diglipur and vice-versa.

b) Sea Transport: Diglipur is connected by sea transport as well. A jetty at Aerial Bay plays a vital role for the routine boat services from Port Blair to Diglipur and vice-versa with three to four trips in a week.

c) Air-Transport: Helipad at Vidyasagar Pally is the only infrastructure for air transport. But, from 2011, Diglipur was linked with Port Blair by Seaplane services, which has been discontinued. Presently, Pawan Hans Helicopters are plying Diglipur-Port Blair and vice-versa 4 days in a week.

Health Service:

Diglipur Tehsil is having a Community Health Center at Diglipur and Primary Health Centers at Radhanagar, Kalighat and Kishorinagar. With in the boundary of this Tehsil altogether 18 Sub-centers are in operation.

Educational Service:

Education services of Diglipur Tehsil is generally considered to be good. Under the Tehsil about 06 Govt. Senior Secondary Schools are in operation of which one each at Diglipur, Sitanagar, Kishorinagar, Subhashgram, Swarajgram and Kalighat.

A data on the distribution of Schools with in the Tehsil boundary is figured in the table given below.

Government School

Sl.No Gradation of Govt. School No. of School under Diglipur Tehsil
1. Primary School 48
2. Middle School 09
3. Secondary School 09
4. Senior Secondary School 06

Private Management Schools

Sl.No Gradation of Private. School No. of School under Diglipur Tehsil
1. Pre- Primary / Primary School 05
2. Middle School 01
3. Secondary School 01

All these schools are running under Diglipur Sub-Division. Out of these 10 Primary school and 01 Secondary school are look after by the Assistant Director, Mayabunbder. The enrollment of students except the school look after by the Assistant Director, Mayabunder is as under :

Enrollment in Govt. Schools – 8996

Enrollment in Private Schools – 1014

Social Welfare :

Altogether 113 Anganwadi, 4 Day Care Centers and 02 Mini-Anganwadi are in operation with in the Tehsil by the ICDS Project, North Andaman. Besides this other welfare schemes like Widow Pension, Old Age Pension, Pension to Handicapped are being provided by the Social Welfare Board through ICDS.

Tele Communication:

Services of GSM, 3G, Broadband, WLL, Land Line, EVDO, Leased Line are provided in Diglipur area.

Connectivity through Satellite and OFC (Port Blair to Diglipur).

Mobile coverage Sitanagar, Nabagram, Kalighat, Ramnagar, Kishorinagar, Madhupur, Laxmipur, Radhanagar, Diglipur, Aerial Bay & Shibpur.

Fixed line services at remote area like, Kishorinagar, Kalighat, Madhyamgram, Radhanagar and Shibpur.

Broadband services at remote area like Shibpur, Kishorinagar and Kalighat.

New GSM services will be introduced by the first week of September, 2014. at Milangram.

Up gradation work in progress at Diglipur, Aerial Bay, Laxmipur and Milangram.

One additional site for GSM is under progress (Tower Installation)

Private operators in the mobile sectors like Airtel, Vodafone & Reliance are also providing their mobile services at limited area in Diglipur.

Postal and courier Services:

Altogether, 01 Sub-Post Office and 11 ED Branch Post Offices are in operation under Diglipur Tehsil. Besides, private courier services like Andaman Express and AIR Express have their respective branches at Diglipur for facilitating courier services in and out of the Islands.

Banking Services:

As in other part of the Islands State Bank of India is providing Banking Service under Diglipur Tehsil. Whereas, A & N State Co-operative Bank is also providing services at Diglipur, Aerial Bay and Kalighat. Axix Bank and Syndicate Bank is also opened their branched in Diglipur in the recent past.

Law and Order:

With in the limit of Diglipur Tehsil two police stations are there one each at Diglipur and Kalighat. These Police Stations are largely responsible for the maintenance of law and order with in the Tehsil.

Fire Services:

Under Diglipur Tehsil Fire Service has their unit at Diglipur with sufficient manpower and Fire Fighting Equipments.

Fishing Sector:

Diglipur Tehsil is endowed with vast and varied fisheries resources in term of species diversity of fish, ornamental fish, shell fish and molluse. Large proportion of population is involved in fishing and allied activities for their income. There are 514 registered fishing boats in operation which provide livelihood for 1200 active fisherman families. Besides marine fishery, people of Diglipur are also involved in culturing freshwater fish with more than 700 available ponds. Majority of people are non vegetarian eater and relish fish and shell fish cuisine as preferred dish. Department of fisheries works for the welfare and development of fisherman and fish farmers and sustainable fisheries & aquaculture as a whole.

Ø There is one fish landing center at Durgapur.

Ø There is one fish drying platform at Durgapur for benefit of fishermen.

Ø There is one Ice Plant and Cold Storage for preservation of fishes at Durgapur village. Fishermen are availing the facilities.

Forest:

Diglipur Tehsil partly comes under the jurisdiction of North Andaman Forest Division. Total Geographic area of this division is 1238 km2 in which reserved forest area is 83.08 km2, Protected forest area is 963.04 km2 and non-forest area is 191.88 km2.

Panchayati Raj Institution

Panchayati Raj Institutions: Diglipur Tehsil is having 34 revenue villages and these villages are locally governed by 15 Gram Panchayats. The list of limitations of each Panchayat and its Pradhan is furnished as under:

Sl.No. Name of Panchayat Name of Villages
1. Radhanagar Shyamnagar
Radhanagar
Swarajgram
2. Laxmipur Milangram
Laxmipur
3. Madhupur Madhupur
Deshbandhugram
Rabindrapally
4. Subhashgram Subhashgram
5. Sitanagar Sitanagar
Krishnapuri
6. Diglipur Diglipur
Khudirampur
7. Ramkrishnagram Ramkrishnagram
8. Keralapuram Keralapuram
Vidyasagarpalli
Aerial Bay
Sagardweep
9. Shibpur Durgapur
Shibpur
Kalipur
10. Nabagram Nabagram
Madhyam Gram
Nishcintapur
11. Kalighat Kalighat
Jagannathdera
12. Ramnagar Ramnagar
13. Kishorinagar Kishorinagar
Parangara
Mohanpur
14. Paschimsagar Paschimsagar
15. Gandhinagar Gandhinagar
Shantinagar
Ganeshnagar

Power:

Ø Power Generation at Kalpong HE Project:- There are 3 turbines of 1750 KW Capacity each working at Kalpong Hydro Electric Project.

Ø There are 3 generator sets of 1000 KV & 03 generator set of 320 KV Capacity at Sitanagar Power House.

Defence :

There are four Defence Establishment as given below:

Sl.No Unit Location
1. Coast Guard (DHQ-9) Aerial Bay
2. 2 U Det. (Navy) Aerial Bay
3. Naval Air Station Shibpur
4. Army Det. Shibpur

Disaster Management

Disaster Management: As a measure to cope up with disasters, following govt. building / structures have been identified as an immediate temporary relief shelter in each revenue villages.

Details of the village wise identified relief shelter is as under:-

Sl.No Name of village Identified immediate temporary relief shelter
1. Ramnagar Govt. Secondary School
2. Jaganathdera Govt. Primary School
3. Kalighat Govt. Sr. Sec. School
4. Nishchintapur Govt. Primary School
5. Nabagram Govt. Middle School
6. Madhyamgram Govt. Primary School
7. Kishorinagar Govt. Sr. Secondary School
8. Parangara Govt. Sec. School
9. Mohanpur Govt. Secondary School
10. Subhashgram Govt. Primary School
11. Diglipur Govt. Sr. Secondary School
12. Durgapur Govt. Secondary School
13. Shibpur Govt. Secondary School
14. Kalipur Govt. Primary School
15. Keralapuram Govt. Secondary School
16. Vidyasagarpalli Govt. Primary School
17. Aerial bay Govt. Primary School
18. Sagardweep Govt. Middle School
19. Madhupur Govt. Sec. School
20. Deshbandhugram Govt. Primary School
21. Rabindrapally Govt. Primary School
22. Laxmipur Govt. Secondary School
23. Radhanagar Govt. Primary School
24. Swarajgram Govt. Sr. Secondary School
25. Shyamnagar Govt. Middle School
26. Milangram Govt. Middle School
27. Ramkrishnagram Govt. Primary School
28. Khudirampur Govt. Middle School
29. Sitanagar Govt. Middle School
30. Krishnapuri Community Hall

Agriculture

As of 2010, Diglipur's chief agricultural products were rice (about 6500 ha), coconuts (3600 ha), rabi pulses (2900 ha), areca nuts (1300 ha) and bananas (650 ha).[1]

Tourism

The city also profits from tourism to nearby attractions in North Andaman, which include the Ross and Smith islands, the Saddle Peak National Park, the beaches at Ram Nagar, Kalipur and Lamiya bay, and mud volcanoes. Ram Nagar beach (15 kilometres (9.3 miles) away from Kalighat) is famous for sea turtle nesting from December to February.

The first hydroelectric power station of the islands (5.25 MW) is set up in the Kalpong River.

The Chalis Ek Caves (about 20 kilometres (12 miles) due south of Diglipur, near the village of Pathi Level) and the Alfred Caves are a major nesting ground for the edible-nest swiftlet, whose nests are exported to China for bird's nest soup.

Mud Volcano at Diglipur

The mud volcanoes at North Andaman are described by locals as better than that found in Baratang Islands. The mud volcanoes at North Andaman are located at a place locally known as "Jal Tikry' near 'Hathi level' around 25 kilometres (16 miles) from Diglipur Bazaar (direction towards Laxmipur). Till now local administration has made no efforts of accessibility of tourists to this place.

Ross Island

(Note: The Ross Island near Port Blair is different) offers a virgin beach bordered by tropical forest. Ross Island is a 20 minute boat ride from Aerial Bay jetty is an ideal spot for beach tourism, adventure (trekking through tropical forest), research / education (like scuba diving, snorkeling, turtle nesting). The sand bar joining this island with the adjoining Smith Island is an added attraction.

Smith Island

Offers a similar experience like Ross island. This island also houses a small village of about 60 families. Eco rest houses are available for overnight stay. Smith Island beach is notified for turtle nesting during seasons

Kalipur Beach

At a distance of 18 kilometres (11 miles) from Diglipur, there is a combination of sand and rock shores with fishing village nearby. Lamiya Bay is quite near the Kalipur beach. Kalipur Adventure Sports Complex, near Kalipur Beach offers water adventure sports such as speed boats, water scooters etc. The complex however suffers administrative apathy and requires facelift. Lamiya Bay Beach (or locally Lemiyar Bay) borders the Saddle Peak National Park | National Parks |. This beautiful beach has a stretch of shore covered with shells. At the end of this walk is a refreshing fresh water stream 'Thambu Nali' in the foothills of National Park.

Saddle Peak National Park

Is a dense tropical forest housing a rich bank of exquisite trees, (including sandal), rare flora and wild fruits and offering trekking opportunities including climbing up natural steps formed by the roofs of old trees. Tourists need to take permission from Forest Department to trek through this Park. A 740 feet climb leads to Saddle Peak, the highest point in A&N islands which offers an aerial view of A&N, the second peak "ice degree peak" is the coldest point while the third peak provides a fantastic view spanning Diglipur to Mayabunder.

Tourists

The tourist season in North Andaman [Diglipur] is between the months of November and March in a year. The present tourist inflow in a season is an estimated 1000 only of which ~90% are domestic tourists and the rest foreign nationals. This translates to a low average of 6 tourists per day in season. The average stay period of a foreign tourist is put at 10 days to a fortnight and the same drops to 1–3 days in case of a domestic tourist.The average stay period of a foreign tourist is put at 10 days to a fortnight and the same drops to 1–3 days in case of a domestic tourist.

Power supply

Power supply to this island is from the 5.5 MW hydro electric project of NHPC. The present power supply situation is satisfactory with occasional power cuts due to stabilization problems in the plant. The present capacity is said to be sufficient to meet the power requirements of Diglipur, Mayabunder and Rangat islands. The Kalpong River project has a 34- meter high concrete dam on the left fork of the river Kalpong, a 25-metre-high (82-foot) rock-fill dam on the right fork, 257-metre-long (843-foot) in-take approach channel, and a 133-metre long in-take tunnel. The Kalpong river traverses in the northward direction for a length of about 35 kilometres (22 miles) before it joins the Aerial Bay Creek on the east coast near Diglipur

Water supply

Water supply is from the perennial Kalpong river, the only river in the whole of A&N islands. The water supply situation is satisfactory till date. However, construction of dam for hydro electric project has raised concerns on sustainability of maintaining the present water supply levels.

Healthcare

Almost all the healthcare delivery is done by Government centers : Community Health Centre : 1 (at Diglipur) Primary Health Centres (PHC) : 3 (Kalighat, KishoriNagar and Radhanagar | One PHC is proposed in Kalipur) Health Sub Centre : 14 Dispensary 1

Education

Primary School : 39 | Middle School : 6 | Secondary School : 8 | Senior Secondary School : 3

Local travel in North Andaman

For local travel STS buses (Govt.) and private buses are available. The public transport services are available between 04:30 hrs. and 19:30 hours. There are also about 45 autos and few jeeps/Omni Vans as an alternative of public transport on the island. Fishermen doongis (locally called donghy, dinghy/machine donghy) are available for inter-island travel. Charges for these doongis have to be negotiated. Doongis may not be to everyone's liking as they are uncomfortable and makes a loud monotonous noise. They are usually open-top and without any life rafts or jackets and therefore unsafe for sea travel as well.

The Inter island boat visit to Aerial bay jetty thrice in a week Monday, Wednesday & Saturday from Port Blair Dep 07.00Hrs & Arr 15.15Hrs. Return Tuesday 07.00Hrs, Wed & Sat 21.00Hrs This inter island

boat travel from Port Blair should be made daily with larger vessels.Its a nightmare for the local population in case of emergency.This neglect on the part of the administration has made the life of the local population miserable.

Villages

As of 2001, the townships (gram panchayats) and subortinated villages in Diglipur county were:[1]

Encroached Forest Area:

Gandhi Nagar Rahil Pilone Nallaha Haran Nallaha Paschimsagar Talbagan
Lamiya Bay Naranyan Tikri Austin II Ganesh Nagar Austin IX Austin Creek
Baskata Nallah Mutha Nallaha Bali Nallaha Bamboo Nallaha Srinagar Gunna Level
Nakuldanga Hathi Level Bara Dabla Hoari Bay Ganna Dabla Hara Tikry
Karen Basti Elezebeth Bay Beach Dera Coffee Dera Bandhan Nallaha Haridas Kattai
Amber Chad Santi Nagar Burmachad Pemaiahdera Aam Tikry

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Government of India (2011), Andaman and Nicobar Islands Statistical Hand-Book – North and Middle Andaman, 2007–08 To 2009–10

Coordinates: 13°16′N 93°00′E / 13.267°N 93.000°E / 13.267; 93.000

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