The Permanent Lok Adalath Bench here on Tuesday directed the Kerala State Water Transport Department to file a statement on a petition filed against the circular boat service from Ernakulam to the islands.
The petition was filed by Kerala High Court advocate Thamana Noushad.
According to her, the KSWTD started the circular boat service after cancelling all direct boat services to the islands.
The new system has caused difficulty to the students and other residents of islands who are depending on the service daily.
“The circular service boats connect every island and there will be frequent service to the islands.
But the main drawback of stopping the direct services is that those who wish to reach the respective destinations at the stipulated time find it difficult to do so.
“One has to travel through other islands to reach the destination,” the petition stated. It also stated that the passengers have to wait for a long time especially during the peak hours.
Though the boats touch each island, they do not help the passengers as they can accommodate only 100 passengers. The boat will be full of passengers at the start itself. The circular boat touches every island.
As a result three boats halt at a time in an island, but the jetties do not have the space to accommodate more than one boat at a time. Subsequently when the boats reach the jetties, two of them have to be stopped in the middle of the backwater and wait for other boats to leave the jetty. Hence, the petitioner sought a directive to take necessary steps to run the direct boat services during peak hours especially on the Fort Kochi-Ernakulam route which is the busiest route.