Who cares for boat safety steps?

KOCHI: When the Thekkady and Thattekad boat tragedies occurred, the government took stringent measures to safeguard tourists.Like any other event these tragedies turn distant memories and the authorities tend to  relax, maybe waiting for another such incident to peddle them back into action. Sunday’s incident in which a  boat capsized on the Palaikari aquatourism backwaters, near Vaikom, is proof that the government has become lax again. Even though no one was injured in the incident, the passengers fell into the three-metre-deep lake calling the safety measures of the state government into question. Said Ajil Joseph, “Except for one, none had  life jackets. We had to hold on to the boat for 45 minutes before any sort of safety measure was taken.”The passengers said that most of the tourists in the boats in the aquatourism backwaters in Vaikom are hardly seen in life jackets. This is something common in Kochi.“Many tourists in the speed boats or motor boats do not take the trouble of wearing life jackets, so do the drivers. You can’t blame the tourists alone,” said  Sam T Samuel, managing director of Calypso in Kochi.Unless the government takes strict measures and educate the people on the need of putting these life jackets on, water tourism in the state will never be secure.  But Mariya Lucy, Joint director, Tourism department, Kochi, said, “Ever since the Thekkady boat tragedy occurred we have been extremely careful about such incidents. We warn the boat owners from time to time to take the necessary precautionary steps such as provisioning all water boats with life jackets, life buoys lifeboats, proper motor capacity. If they fail to provide the necessary security, they would be stripped off their licenses. But it is not practical to monitor them often.”The authorities also say that they have ensured that all the boats have adequate number of life jackets. But the sad reality is that tourists in house boats have no idea where the jackets are kept.“There is a need to educate tourists on how to use these jackets too. The responsibility of the government does not end by simply placing life jackets in the boats,” said Sam.Also, taking more people than the maximum capacity has become the norm in many tourism spots.  “They accommodated 12 persons in a boat meant for eight that why it capsized,” Ajil said.But the authorities said, “There were life jackets in the boat. The passengers did not put them on.”