Alappuzha: After a couple from Andra Pradesh drowned when a shikhara boat capsized in Vembanad Lake in June this year, there were calls for enhanced safety measures for cruising on the lake. But none have been put in place even six months later.
A check carried out by Deccan Chronicle in view of the peak tourism season, has found that no tourist cruising in the shikhara boats is using a life jacket, which is mandatory.
The employee of a houseboat who had lost his life in the Vembanad Lake after falling off a houseboat last Thursday had also not been wearing a life jacket.
A syrang with whom this correspondent went on a two-hour-long cruise in a shikhara, admitted that wearing a life jacket when cruising was a rare occurrence in the Vembanad Lake. Nor did he seem to think it important.
“We are able to find out any unnatural incidents in advance during cruising. If we felt so, we will immediately locate the boat nearest the jetty avoiding imminent danger,” he said.
He said a lot of syrangs who had been disqualified were still working. Some 200 shikharas are plying every day in the Vembanad Lake.
The district administration, which is responsible for ensuring the safety of tourists, doesn’t seem to take the responsibility seriously and has not implemented the recommendations of a report submitted by a former police chief Thomson Jose.
Jose underlined the urgent need of a safety enforcement policy in the sector. His report said that the majority of boats were plying without any life-saving equipment like life jackets.
It also emphasised that many boat were operating without a permit from the port department. It recommended that the district administration and the tourism department take strict action against erring boat operators.
Several of the drowning cases reported this season and in the past, too, could have been avoided if someone on the boat knew how to swim and had jumped in to rescue the passenger.
