Coast Guard vessel tows away malfunctioning tanker from eco- sensitive Nicobar island

Recently, the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) towed a fuel tanker back to safe waters which was dangerously drifting towards the pristine Katchall Island in Nicobar due to power failure.

About Katchall Island

• Katchal is one of the Nicobar Islands, India which was previously known as Tihanyu.
• Katchal is inhabited by Nicobari Tribes and Migrated Tamilians (For Rubber plantation workers under Sastri-Srimao Bandaranayaka Pact of 1964).
• Due to the remote 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 2 April 1957.
• This made the Nicobar Islands inaccessible to outsiders and currently, even Indian nationals need a special tribal pass to visit the islands.
• Only Government Servants (outsiders) posted to Katchal Islands are allowed to stay in the island.

Historical Importance

• According to recent history, an archaeological inscription dating to AD 1059 says that Nicobar was part of the overseas kingdom of Tamil Chola King of Tanjore.