Kerala - Alappuzha

Houseboat safety takes a backseat

ALAPPUZHA: A staggering population of over 500 houseboats plying on the backwaters of Alappuzha and the flourishing business that these pleasure merchants enjoy seem to have forced safety concerns to the backseat.

The number of accidents involving houseboats and their passengers are on a steady rise, particularly with the tourism season in the midst of an encouraging trend. While at least 10 cases of drowning have occurred in the past eight months, there have been many incidents in which passengers, after falling off the boats, have managed to swim to safety or been rescued by the local people. Last week, a houseboat collided with a smaller country boat, destroying it.

The reasons are many, says Inspector of Boats G. Sali. Foremost is the lack of trained houseboat personnel. “It might sound strange, but not all the workers on a majority of the houseboats know even swimming,” he says.

Not surprising though, as appointments to these boats still hinge on a law that is nearly nine decades old and formulated by the British. The Travancore Public Canal and Public Ferries Act, 1921, says each boat has to have at least three workers – one lascar, one syrang and one driver.

Of these, mandatory knowledge of swimming is prescribed only for the lascar.

Most boats now make do with a syrang, who doubles up as the driver. “Several of the drowning cases we have registered here in this season and in the past were those which could have been avoided if someone on the boat knew swimming and had jumped to save the passenger,” a police officer at one of the police stations manning the backwaters says.

“There is no training in rescue operations given or prescribed as mandatory for houseboat personnel. I feel that if something like that, along with boat safety courses, is introduced, most accidents here can be avoided. Another point is that the passengers have to compulsorily wear lifejackets provided on the boat,” Mr. Sali says.

Most accidents that have occurred are on houseboats floated by small-time operators on the lookout for fast cash.

Major groups, apart from ensuring all safety measures, including lifejackets on board, have taken some sort of effort to train their personnel. But then, it is not always these boats that the tourists book.

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