A bit of planning could have put Nicobar alongside the Great Celebrations List with the London Millennium dome and the Sydney fireworks. It would have meant a new dawn for the Indian tourism industry. Predictably, by the time the authorities could wake up, it was too late to cash in on an event which could have been a priority on the global party-goers' list.

``In view of the fragility of the eco-system, and limited carrying capacity of the island, special arrangements are being made for the tourists to view the historic moment from cruise liner and luxury vessels,'' says a tourist brochure printed by the Ministry of Tourism. But it is clear that these efforts have come to a naught as not a single cruise liner is going to anchor off the cost of Katchal as planned.

In fact, two days back, at the Ministers Tourism meet, Minister for State for Tourism Uma Bharati invited people to go and witness the historic moment. Obviously, she did not realise that even if one were to go to Port Blair, there is no arrangement to be taken near the island.

Why has the Government woken up now? ``It is because of political instability in the country for the last few months. Now I am going to make an extra effort to request the tour operators and tourism agencies to make it the prime destination for the millennium,'' said Bharati.

There is scope for a maximum of seven ships of 200 metres each to berth and smaller pleasure yachts could have anchored just off the coast of Katchal. The reason why not a single one is coming is that most of these cruise liners fix up plans a year in advance and then India had not reacted to this piece of information at all. ``Some pleasure yachts from Phuket in Thailand might come there but nobody has confirmed this officially,'' said Commander Ashwani Kumar, harbour master in Andamans. However, they were ready on their side with facilities for a customs check and immigration formalities of passengers without them coming ashore.

Officials in the Ministry feel that Andamans being a very quiet place, the administration is not very proactive there. There is a general rise in tourists visiting Port Blair but no arrangements have been made to take them near this island to witness sunrise. ``The island is fragile in terms of environment and people. We were also in a quandary as to whether the year 2001 was the millennium year or 2000. By next year the administration might be in a better position to organise this,'' said M K Khanna, additional director general, Ministry of Tourism.

Considering the fragility of the island, what about people who want to stay in Port Blair and just go there for the millennium dawn? ``There is no special facility. There is a weekly ship and twice a month mainland-bound ship which crosses this island,'' said Sharad Chauhan, director, IP&T, Andaman and Nicobar island.

The fact that the Andamans and Nicobar has no resident commissioner in Delhi for quite some time and the Ministry of Tourism has no Director General after Ashok Pradhan left, also adds to the problems and those willing to contact officials. Initially, there were a few enquiries from cruise liners but it is obvious that none of it has materialised.

It was early this year when the Royal Greenwich Observatory, UK, had declared that this island will be a privileged one. It was recorded in the book Millennium written by Nick Henna, published by Rough Guides.

The logic behind this is when it is midnight on December 31 in Greenwich, the sun would be rising on this island at 5:45 am local time because of the tilt of the earth at a particular angle and the Nicobar islands being the southern-most landmass on the axis.

It is everything which would have appealed to a tourist who wanted to enter a new millennium in the vicinity of an ancient dying culture, an environmentally fragile and fast disappearing flora and fauna. Katchal is is 230 nautical miles from Port Blair and is 174 kilometres in area. The habitation includes mainly the Nicobarese tribes and some workers engaged in the plantation of rubber.