THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: To keep a watch over houseboats operating in the state, Fisheries and Ports Department has come up with a series of measures. Setting up an online web portal for registration of inland vessels and an online tracking mechanism for houseboats are among these. The other instructions include inspection of registered houseboats, special drive to identify unregistered houseboats and launching a campaign warning tourists against using unregistered houseboats. The Kerala Maritime Board (KMB) functioning under the department has to implement the directives.
“The January 23 incident at Alappuzha in which a houseboat was gutted has come as a wake-up call. And 13 tourists had a narrow escape. A blaze was also reported on board another houseboat. It is high time a monitoring mechanism was set up,” said a fisheries department official. According to an order issued on Friday last, the KMB chief executive officer (CEO) was asked to set up an online web portal for registration of inland vessels within one month and online tracking mechanism for houseboats within three months.
Regarding inspection of registered houseboats to ensure compliance with Kerala Inland Vessels Rules, a task force comprising multiple teams which include officers from police, revenue, inland waterways and Pollution Control Board (PCB) should be formed. The inspection must be completed within 15 days. In the case of unregistered houseboats and shikkaras, a special drive will have to be launched and steps initiated to register the eligible vessels within a month.
On the absence of a comprehensive waste disposal system for houseboats, KMB was directed to convene a meeting with the district administration, PCB, district tourism promotion council and other agencies concerned.
Officers face the music
The department has initiated disciplinary action against two officers in connection with the January 23 incident.Based on the Alappuzha district collector’s report, K R Vinothu, in-charge of Registering Authority, and Hari Achutha Warrier, Port Officer, have been removed. They were replaced with M J Renjith and Abraham V Kuriakose, respectively. The collector’s report stated that the Registering Authority and the Port Officer not only failed to crackdown on unregistered boats but couldn’t ensure safety of houseboats and shikkaras.
State to act tough on erring houseboats
T’Puram: A high-level meeting which convened here on Monday to discuss the operation of the houseboats in the state decided to act tough on the houseboats that flout existing rules and regulations. The meeting chaired by Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran also decided to confiscate the unregistered houseboats. “The scenario is such that several houseboats ply with the same registration numbers. There are also several others that didn’t have any registration at all. Several houseboat owners are committing a grave violation of the law and this will be strongly dealt with,” said Surendran.