Shah chairs Parl consultative panel meeting in Andamans, national security issues discussed

Sri Vijaya Puram: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday chaired a Parliamentary Consultative Committee meeting of the Ministry of Home Affairs in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands on Saturday.

The meeting, which started at 11 am and ended around 2.40 pm, focused on issues regarding national security, disaster management, cyber security and regional infrastructure, sources said.

The meeting also stressed using latest technologies to fight crime and having more state-of-the-art centres, such as the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) and the National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU), at the regional level, they said.

A separate session on the strategic importance of Andaman and Nicobar Islands was also held, the sources said.

Union Ministers of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai and Bandi Sanjay Kumar, members of the committee, Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, and other officials attended the meeting.

In the afternoon, Shah will inaugurate an exhibition on 'Naveen Nyaya Sanhita' (new criminal laws) at the ITF Ground in Sri Vijaya Puram, formerly Port Blair. Later, he will also lay the foundation stones for various projects at the Netaji Stadium.

Shah arrived in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands on Friday night on a three-day visit. His plane landed at INS Utkrosh, adjacent to Veer Savarkar International Airport, in Sri Vijaya Puram around 10.45 pm. He was received by Lieutenant Governor D K Joshi, among others.

This is Shah's second visit to the islands in less than a month. He visited the archipelago on December 12 to commemorate the 116th anniversary of V D Savarkar's iconic poem 'Sagara Pran Talamala'.

Security has been tightened across the Union territory in view of Shah's visit, officials said.

Shah will depart the archipelago on January 4.