Katchal

Katchal is one of the Nicobar Islands, India. Its area is 174.4 km².It is approximately 1600 km away from mainland (India) and 305 km south to capital Port Blair.

Katchal was earlier known as Tihnyu, has been home to both indigenous and non-indigenous people.Katchal was one of the worst affected islands during 2004 Tsunami. This region belongs to the Indian territory and comes under the Nicobar district.

Katchal is inhabited by Nicobari Tribes and Migrated Tamilians(For Rubber plantation workers under Sastri-Srimao Bandaranayaka Pact of 1964). The Island is not open to tourists and special permission is required from the local administration at Port Blair.

At sunrise on January 1, 2000, picturesque Katchal island was in the news. Many rich and famous people from around the world had converged on it for a glimpse of the millennium's first sunrise.

The Tsunami of December 26, 2004, devastated it, disturbing the socio-economic set-up of its tribes. Of the 5,000 (Official figure - actual differs) people missing in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, 1,549 are from Katchal. There is not a single teacher; all the 47 posted here were washed away by the waves and the two schools have been converted into relief camps. Some of them managed to escape the waters by clinging over to coconut trees tops. Of the 344 people reported dead, only one body could be identified. Either the bodies were decomposed beyond recognition or there were no survivors to claim them. Post Tsunami relief camps are setup at E-Wall, MRN, Sallo-Tikrey and Japan Tikrey.

Almost all the tribal chiefs and their heirs have been killed, leaving the tribals virtually headless. According to initial estimates, 112 hectares of land has been rendered useless due to salination, and 3.54 lakh coconut and an equal number of supari (betel nut) trees destroyed. The agriculture pattern on the island has to be changed to promote vegetable, spices and banana cultivation as a coconut tree takes about seven years to yield income.

The nearby Trinket island is now divided into three. Tsunami waves came over it on December 26, 2004 and it was submerged under water for several days. It had two villages — Trinket and Safed Balu with an estimated population of 475. The total number of dead or missing is 102, survivors 374 — all of whom were rescued from the sea. Since the island is not safe any more, the locals want to settle in Kamorta.

The Nicobar Islands can be divided in three groups - northern, central and southern. Katchal is the largest island of the central group of islands and has 35 villages of which six are main villages. After the tsunami,the some of the villages had merged.Now there are four tribal villages in the island viz. E Wall, Meenakshi Ram Nagar,Japan Tikry and Upper Katchal.Mildera is another village in the island inhabitated by non tribal people (Tamil repatriates and Ranchi communities). The highest peak of Katchal is 835 feet high. People in Katchal speak Nicobari, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Santhali. Due to their location and lack of exposure with the rest of the world, outsiders economically exploited the innocent islanders for a long time. To stop their economic exploitation, the Government of India declared the Nicobar Islands an Aboriginal Tribal Reserve Area (ATRA) on April 2, 1957. This made the Nicobar Islands inaccessible to outsiders and even Indian people from the mainland need a special tribal pass to land on the islands.

Nicobar Islands have experienced all kinds of external influences for centuries, because they are located along an ancient international sea trade route and have been known to voyagers and scholars since ancient times. Due to this, the islands have been receiving external influences, which have affected their culture and race over the centuries. According to recent history, an archeological inscription dating to AD 1059 says that Nicobar was part of the overseas kingdom of Tamil Chola King of Tanjore. In 1869, the British took possession of the Nicobar Islands from the Danes and made them a part of modern India.

The Hills of Katchal are composed of Calcareous Sandstone and marble slates, and in the beautiful tropical forest of Katchal one will find lots of Pythons, Black Monkeys and Pigs. Katchal is full of natural beauty. The eye-catching scenery of the beaches, the jungle, and the sunrise and sunset are some of the things that make the island really worth visiting.The main stay of their economy is Coconut, Betelnut or Arecanut trade. In 1968, rubber plantation and subsequently red oil palm plantation were established here.

Facilities at Katchal Island

Health: Primary Health Centre: 1 Nos Health Sub Centre: 3 Nos

Education: (Based on Indian Systems)

Primary School - 6 Nos ( Kinder Gardens to 5th Standard), Middle School - 2 Nos ( 6th to 8th Standard), Secondary School - 2 Nos (9th to 10th Standard), Senior Secondary School - 1 Nos (11th to 12th Standard)

Water Supply: Water supply is adequate and sufficient.

Power: Presently it is electrified but is proposed to augment the DG (Diesel Generators) capacity at Katchal Islands by 3x128 KW DG Sets.

Roads: 8.66 KM Pucca road.

Cooperative Societies: 4 Nos

Police Station: 1

Present mode of main transportation: By Shipping.

Communication: Wireless Local Loop Phones and PSTN phones. Mobile phone signal strength is currently very low.

Information Technology: Proposed to connect by VSAT under E- Governance project of A & N Administration for speeding up the developmental works and effective monitoring .

Jetty (Small Ports) - A temporary Berthable Jetty is available.

References

* http://police.and.nic.in/katchal.htm
* http://www.and.nic.in/shelterP/katchalmap.htm
* http://tourism.andaman.nic.in/tourop.htm
* http://books.google.co.in/books?id=Fk8FQa2ZSFQC&pg=PA1018&lpg=PA1018&dq=the+daily+telegrams+port+blair&source=web&ots=3NbkcJQ1UD&sig=s6Tqyv2AAVQ8lGsxX-qfwa7LLj8&hl=en
* Books from State Library - Middle Point, Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

* http://www.riteshmandal.com/post_tsunami1.htm