Sunday night’s boat accident at Tanur in which 22 people died was waiting to happen with many in the sector constantly flagging what they termed as laxity of enforcement agencies in preventing overloading of boats.
The Kerala Maritime Board (KMB) is the authority that ought to ensure fitness, licensing, and safe operation of all tourist vessels, including houseboats, in the State. While the stakeholders blame it on the board’s apathy in carrying out inspections, officials say they are facing acute shortage of surveyors and the delay in constituting an enforcement wing to enforce the Kerala inland Vessels (KIV) Rules 2010 in letter and spirit.
President of the Kerala Houseboat Owners’ Federation Jobin J. Akkarakalam says fatal accidents such the ones at a dozen tourist locales in the past two decades can recur any moment, especially in Alappuzha, where fire accidents and sinking of houseboats have been reported almost every year.
