New Delhi: Home Minister P Chidambaram will begin a two-day visit to Andaman and Nicobar Islands on Saturday to formally launch the Resident Identity Smart Cards, a pet project of his Ministry and is also expected to review probe into alleged exploitation of Jarawa tribes there.
During the visit, the Home Minister is likely to assess the progress in the ongoing police investigation into the controversial video showing semi-naked Jarawa tribe women dancing before tourists in return for food.
Chidambaram will issue the biometric smart cards to a few residents of Andaman Island at a function organised by the local administration.
The project to issue the smart cards to the 1.2 crore population living in 3,331 coastal villages in nine maritime states and UTs is being implemented by the Registrar General of India on behalf of the Home Ministry.
Chidambaram will also review various development projects, including health, sanitation, drinking water and road, being implemented in the group of islands by the Union Territory administration which reports to the Union Home Ministry, official sources said.
The issue of exploitation of Jarawa tribals is likely to figure in the meetings to be taken by Chidambaram and he may give directions to the local authorities to stop repeat of such incidents in future and take corrective steps.
He is also expected to take stock of the coastal security scheme being implemented by the Home Ministry as part of its initiative taken to secure the country's coastline.
The Home Minister is also likely to visit a few tsunami (2004) affected areas in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands where the reconstruction works were carried out by his Ministry among others.
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