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Kerala boat mishap: A tragedy waiting to happen

George Iype in Kochi

Kerala's worst backwater tragedy in which nearly 55 people died when an overcrowded boat capsized on Saturday morning was a disaster waiting to happen as the state government has been neglecting water transport facilities for the ordinary people over the years.

While backwater tourism has flourished thanks to deft marketing, ordinary people have been depending on the government-run old, dilapidated boats for journeying between the mainland, various islands and towns across the state.

The tragedy occurred in Vembanad Lake, one of the largest freshwater stretches in Asia, nestling famous tourist spots across places like Kumarakom, Muhamma and Pathiramanal near Kottayam and Alapuzha.

It was at Kumarakom that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee spent his annual holidays two years ago.

The overcrowded passenger boat capsized in the Vembanad Lake near Pathiramanal, a little island famous for rare migratory birds.

Pathiramanal is midway between Kumarakom in Kottayam and Muhamma in Alapuzha. Thus for people living across the mainland of Kottayam and Alapuzha, the easiest and favourite mode of transport are the boats through the Vembanad lake.

But private boat owners said that though thousands of people travel by boats for work across the various towns daily, the government water transport services has remained an awfully neglected one.

"Yes, the boat tragedy may have been caused by overcrowding. But I should say that all the boats run by the Kerala government in the backwaters are dangerous and dilapidated. The government boats are the most risky public transport in Kerala," P K Suresh, owner of five private tourist boats running in the Kochi backwaters told rediff.com.

He said the only good thing about the government-run boats is that the fares on them are cheap. "But they are inviting people to death by water," Suresh lamented.

He said it is the poor people who generally live in the islands. "But there are insufficient number of boats to take them to their daily work destinations. That is the reason why 300 people cram into a boat that can house only 150 people," Suresh pointed out.

Kottayam district superintendent of police S Gopinath said that the main cause behind the tragedy was overcrowding. "The ill-fated boat was not meant to take nearly 300 people. But it was overcrowded because there were many job seekers who were travelling on Saturday to write a Public Service Commission examination," he pointed out.

Officials at the Kerala State Water Transport Department, that runs the boat services across the backwaters in the state, said that the boat was old, but not dangerous. "Our initial inquiry reveals that the boat capsized because some of the wooden planks in the boat came out and water rushed in. This happened because there were a large number of people in the boat," a senior official told rediff.com.

But the official admitted that many of the boats that his department runs across various islands on the entire backwater stretch in Kerala are 'dilapidated'.

"Some of them are not fit to be used. We have been requesting the government to construct new passenger boats. But the government has not yet listened to our demand," the official said.

Opposition politicians said that the tragedy brings to the fore the flawed tourism policy of the A K Antony government.

"While the government is spending millions on promoting backwater tourism in the state, it is sad that it does not spare any money to construct new boats for the poor people to travel," Venu Srinivasan, a local Communist Party of India-Marxist activist said.

"It is ironic that the Vembanad tragedy occurred near Pathiramanal, which the government has leased out to a private hotel chain for building a resort," he pointed out.

The Pathiramanal island has been leased out to the Oberoi hotel group, which is setting up there a seven star tourist resort.

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