A 45-year-old man drowned in Alappuzha backwaters after falling off a houseboat at Thottathodu S.N. Junction here on Sunday night. The deceased was identified as Pradeep P. Nair, of Sreenarayanapuram, near Varkala, Thiruvananthapuram. He was a head clerk at Industrial Training Institute, Chengannur.
According to the Tourism Police, the victim slipped and fell into the water from the vessel ‘Bon Voyage’ around 9.30 p.m. The boat was anchored at the time of the incident. His body was taken out by the Fire and Rescue Services personnel on Monday morning. “He was among a group of 12 who reached Alappuzha to experience a backwater cruise on a houseboat. After the day trip, seven of them returned by evening and five stayed back on the vessel. We were informed of the incident by the crew of another vessel anchored nearby. As it was nighttime, we couldn’t immediately identify the accident spot. By the time the police reached there, the crew of ‘Bon Voyage’ had escaped from the scene,” said a police official.
Missing certificates
Tourism sub-inspector P. Jayaram said the houseboat was operating without the mandatory fitness certificate. Mr. Jayaram said a report on the incident had been submitted to the Alappuzha North police and Ports Department for initiating action against the owner and crew of the boat.
Accidents in the houseboat tourism sector in the district have claimed at least four lives, including three tourists, in the last one-and-a-half months. A 42-year-old man from Pandalam drowned in the backwaters after falling from a houseboat while taking photos at Venattukadu in Kuttanad on May 8. On June 11, a houseboat with tourists from Tamil Nadu capsized at Kanitta jetty in Kuttanad. Though all the three passengers and crew escaped unhurt, a local resident drowned while trying to retrieve the belongings of the tourists from the submerged vessel. Less than a week later, a 43-year-old Kattapana native drowned after he fell into the waters through the grill-less window of a vessel at Punnamada on June 16.
Illegal operations
Most of the boats involved were later found to be operating flouting norms including mandatory registration, licence, insurance and so on. The recurring mishaps, mostly caused by lack of safety measures, coupled with illegal operations, have cast a shadow over houseboat tourism in Alappuzha, which has not yet fully recovered from the pandemic-induced crisis.
Sources said that a lack of regulation and oversight were proving costly and pushing the sector into total disarray.
According to the Ports department, the licensing authority, as many as 1,588 mechanically propelled boats, including houseboats, shikhara boats and speedboats, are registered with the Alappuzha Port Registry. There are an estimated 1,500 housboats in the backwaters of Alappuzha. It is understood that nearly half of them flout norms.
50-odd vessels impounded
Though both the Ports department and Tourism Police are conducting drives against illegal vessels, the sheer number of boats, coupled with a shortage of staff, is making it difficult to bring order in the sector. The Ports department, which launched a major drive in March against illegal houseboats in Alappuzha, has so far impounded around 50 vessels. Since the capsizing of the houseboat on June 11, the Tourism Police inspected around 50 boats and served notices to 33 vessels for various violations. "Mostly, when we conduct surprise checks, there would be guests inside boats. In such cases, we cannot seize the boats outright. We serve them notices asking owners to appear before the authorities. But in most cases they won't appear and continue to operate in violation of rules," said an official.
