
KOCHI: The acute travel woes of hundreds of Lakshadweep islanders are set to worsen further as yet another ship will be taken out of service for dry-docking on February 2, leaving only a small vessel to connect Kochi with the islands. While passengers are crying foul over the lack of periodic maintenance, and poor planning that led to four of five vessels being rendered out of service, the Lakshadweep administration authorities promise to deploy back two of the main ships by March before the summer vacation rings in.
The lack of sufficient number of ships has already resulted in a large number of islanders, including those who have arrived here for availing medical treatment, stranded, and forced to stay back for weeks altogether, while striving to get a ticket back home.
“For the last three months, only two ships -- M V Lagoons and M V Arabian Sea -- are conducting service. Now they are taking out M V Lagoons, a 400-passenger capacity vessel, for dry-docking from February 2. Even now, hundreds of people are stranded here and they are somehow extending their stay without sufficient money and food. Only the small ship ‘M V Arabian Sea’, with a passenger capacity of 200 people, will be in operation. The demand, though, is many times more.
What has led to this situation is the lack of planning on the part of the authorities, who took all the ships together for repair and maintenance. With proper planning, they could have taken one ship out at a time,” said Adhil Rasheed Thouseef, vice- president, NCP (SP), who is currently in Kochi. Though Adhil got a ticket back to Minicoy on January 29, he is running from pillar to post to get one more ticket for a family member who accompanied him. Many islanders are forced to stay back for weeks altogether, and have taken rooms in hotels and lodges in the city, which are in high demand now.
‘Major ships to be deployed back soon’
Meanwhile, the Lakshadweep administration authorities justified the simultaneous dry-docking of the vessels and said major ships will be deployed back in time before the start of the summer vacation.
“All ships were not dry-docked for a long time. We wanted to carry out all the maintenance and deploy back the vessels by March before the start of summer vacation. We expect the maximum demand then, especially students and tourists. We’ll start deploying back the ships from next month,” said a senior official.
“The repair of ‘MV Kavaratti’, which can carry 700 passengers, is nearing completion at Mumbai dry-dock. We plan to deploy the ship owned by Lakshadweep Development Corporation Ltd back to service in the first week of February. The vessels MV Corals, which can accommodate 400 passengers, and MV Lakshadweep Sea, that can carry 250 passengers, will start operation by March,” the official said.