KOCHI: It seems the travel woes of Vypeen islanders are not going to end soon. At present, there is only one boat-Fort Queen- to ferry people up and down from Vypeen to Fort Kochi. However, the boat, which is operated by the Kerala State Inland Navigation Corporation, is not sufficient to meet the travel needs of a large number of people residing in the Vypeen area. The most affected are the school children and workers.
Xavier Augustine, a middle-aged man from Vypeen said the residents of Vypeen and Fort Kochi, especially school children and workers are adversely affected by the lack of sufficient boat service. “Some are forced to depend on the buses to reach Vypeen from Fort Kochi and have to travel 18 kilometres. However, the distance from Vypeen to Fort Kochi is only 1.4 kilometres through the backwaters. “Just one boat and thousands of people depending on it make the situation really tangled. We are forced to depend on buses to reach our destinations and it is really time-consuming. It just takes few minutes to reach Fort Kochi via boat,” added Xavier.
Surendran, an employee of KSINC said there were two boats and Jhankars earlier. These services were stopped after the boats got damaged.The Corporation which received advanced Ro-Ro vessels is unable to launch the services because of the delay in construction of the mooring jetty. Majnu Komath, chairman of the Fort Vypeen People’s Collective, said the locals had demanded the service of two boats. “However, even on the New Year’s Eve, we only had one boat here. There was a huge rush at the Vypeen jetty during those days,” he added.
Meanwhile, the srank of the Fort Queen, Alexander said the crew of the boat is having a hectic schedule. “We hardly have time for a tea break,” he added. The opposition leader of Kochi corporation K J Antony criticised the Corporation for its indifference towards people. “Even the proposal to install cameras in the existing boat as part of security measures has been turned down. Eighteen crore had been shelled out to launch RO-RO vessel but the money is likely to go down the drain,” he added.