KOCHI: Despite the KSINC on Monday finally starting partial resumption of the Roll-on, Roll-off service (Ro-Ro) in the Fort Kochi-Vypeen route - a single vessel will be operated for eight hours daily for the time being - uncertainty still plagues the full operation of two Ro-Ro vessels as the agency remains clueless in this regard.
Though the state-run KSINC had sought three weeks for resuming the full operation of the two vessels, they are yet to come out with an official statement in this regard. It has also failed to respond to the Corporation’s letter seeking clarity on resuming the service of the two vessels.
“Though the Corporation secretary wrote to the KSINC asking them to inform us of the final date of resuming the Ro-Ro’s full operation, they haven’t responded so far. The KSINC officers also skipped last week’s Standing Committee meeting which was convened to resolve the issue,” said a Corporation officer who sought anonymity. Further, the officer said the KSINC hasn’t yet managed to find qualified hands for operating the state-of-the-art vessels. “ As per the MoU, they have sought a minimum two days’ training for the drivers. But the two days have elapsed and still the KSINC has not started the training programme for the drivers. If they are clueless on its operation they should have the guts to tell the public,” he said.
When Express contacted the KSINC officers, they said the training for four first class masters (skippers) will commence within a few days. “ The CPT licence report for the second vessel needs to be renewed. We hope we can resume the training for the four masters within a few days. At present we can’t say for sure when we can start the full operation of the Ro-Ro vessel,” said Ciril Abraham, KSINC, Commercial Manager.
The resumption of the Ro-Ro service proved a welcome relief to people of western Kochi, with several persons availing themselves of the service on Monday. The service which started around 9 am ended by 6pm. Though the KSINC is required to conduct a minimum 60 trips daily as per the MoU, it could only conduct 32 trips on Monday. “ As we had said earlier, the mooring facility at Vypeen is indeed an issue and this led to far fewer trips being conducted,” said the officer.
However, Mayor Soumini Jain said the KSINC is levelling baseless allegations against the mooring facility. “ We clearly monitored the trips. If there was an issue the skipper would have stopped the service. The lack of experienced drivers is the problem, not the mooring,” she said.