Seaplanes unlikely to take off

The leaders of the aggrieved fishermen community say that over the last few months no discussions had been held on the project. Moreover, a seaplane operator who brought an aircraft to Kochi, had taken back the aircraft recently suffering huge losses.

Government sources said that since the elections were only a few months away, the government was unlikely to initiate any steps against the interest of the fisherfolks who are a strong vote bank. “

The government was adopting a similar strategy on the land acquisition for Thiruvananthapuram airport also by slowing down the process as it did not want to trigger resentment among the locals,” the source pointed out.

Meanwhile, Tourism Minister A.P. Anilkumar expressed hope that the sea plane operations would commence during the term of the present government itself.

“I can't tell the exact status. But Kerala Tourism Infrastructure Limited (KTIL), which is the nodal agency for the project, is initiating steps for the launch,” he said. KTIL authorities were not available for comments.

After a two-year logjam, the government had held discussions with the representatives of fishermen in August and promised steps against affecting the marine resources.

A trial flight in Ashtamudi lake to convince the fisherfolks was planned. But no further steps have been taken on this, said Kerala Swathantra Matsya Thozhilali Federation leader T. Peter. over the last few months.

The seaplane service was formally launched in the state on June 2, 2013 from Ashtamudi lake in Kollam. But owing to protests from fisherfolks alleging that the operations would affect marine resources, the project was put off.