Kozhikode: The officialdom in collusion with airline companies have sabotaged the move to introduce passenger ship services from the state to Gulf countries.
The services would have considerably reduced the travel blues of the 2.5 million non-resident Keralites in the Gulf sector and put an end to the exploitation of NRKs by airlines, say passenger organisations.
The decade-old plan to start passenger services was abandoned in 2012 citing a committee report which said that there would not be sufficient number of passengers. It was calculated that the travel fare would be around Rs 5,000 for third class, Rs 7,000 for second class and Rs 10,000 for first class with three days’ food whereas the sailing time between Gulf and Kochi would be around three to four days. A trial also was conducted in June 2001 from Bahrain via Doha and Muscat charging Rs 4,000 per passenger.
World Malayali Council president C.E. Chakkunni told DC that discussions were also held between a few shipping companies, including Sohar Shipping and transporting company and another company based in Oman. Referring to the poor interest among passengers, Mr Chakkunni said that among the NRKs, 70 percent were daily labourers who skip annual visits to meet the family due to the high airline fares, who will opt for passenger ships even though it would take three days. “The government is dancing to the tunes of airline companies,” he added.
It may be recalled that many shipping companies and prominent business personalities had evinced interest in the project but the failure of the government in clearing the customs and security hurdles made it a mere dream.
