ALAPPUZHA: The first known judicial commission in Kerala which probed the boat tragedy that killed Mahakavi Kumaran Asan and 23 others is nearing its centenary. Led by retired justice of Travancore High Court P Cherian, the commission reported that overloading beyond permissible limit was the reason for the tragedy.
Most of the information currently available in the public domain about the commission is from notes and collections of Chelangad Gopalakrishnan, recalls his son and writer Saju Chelangad. The judicial commission to probe the accident was appointed by King Sree Moolam Thirunal Rama Varma on January 31, 1924. The other members of the commission were the police commissioner of Travancore and a British national W H Pit, chief engineer K V Natesa Iyer, Sreemoolam Legislative Council Members N Kumaran and N R Madhavan.
According to the report,the ‘Redeemer’ boat of Cochin Motor Service owned by Varkey Mathew started the journey from Kollam at 10.30pm on January 24. The boat had the capacity to carry 95 passengers, however on the fateful day it had 151 passengers with heavy luggages. “ The majority of the passengers were returning natives after attending the ‘murajapam’ of Sree Padmanabha Temple. Arumukhom Pillai was the boat master. By midnight the boat reached around 19 miles south of Alappuzha after covering Ashtamudi Lake. Around 1.5km away from Thottapally, the boat entered into the canal connecting Kayamkulam lake and Alappuzha. When negotiating the curve in the canal at Pallana, the boat leaned to one side and capsized,”Saju said quoting from the report.
Rescue was delayed because of the remoteness of the place.The residence of Kesava Pillai and Pallana Pottis were around 200m away and they were the first to reach the place.P I Koshy , the superintendent of Thottapally bund came to know about the incident by morning and he left to the spot in a small boat.
The report also mentions that three boats passed through the channel but did not help in the rescue effort. As many as 120 passengers and seven boat staff escaped. Residents managed to take out nine bodies from the boat by the next morning. Boat master Arumukhom Pillai managed to escape from the spot and was arrested after a few days.
In the presence of Alappuzha district judge K Narayana Pillai and Kollam Police Superintendent R K Krishana Pillai the boat was raised from the water on the third day and the two bodies, including the poet’s was recovered from it.
The commission had 21 sittings and examined 83 witnesses.According to the report, overloading was the reason for the accident and the boat operators were callous about the safety of the passengers. It reported that most of the passengers were asleep at the time of the accident and that led to more fatalities. The body of Asan and others were buried near the accident spot and the place is known as Kumarakodi.