Amid the pall of gloom in the tourist boat sector following the death of 22 passengers after an overloaded boat capsized at Tanur on May 7, the Kerala Maritime Board (KMB) organised a workshop here on Tuesday to hear stakeholders such as master mariners, marine engineers, and naval architects on implementing the Inland Vessel Act 2021 to improve the safety standards of inland vessels.
This came even as manufacturers and operators of boats were alleging that acute shortage of surveyors was affecting survey and registration of vessels.
The State government is expected to enact rules as per the Act, while boat crew have to be trained in accordance with the new syllabus framed by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI). The workshop was aimed primarily at hearing stakeholders to help frame policy guidelines.
The KMB had issued appointment orders to two surveyors which is even then insufficient to survey hundreds of boats from various districts of the State. The sole way out is for the government to offer better salary, considering that naval architects command much better salary globally. Moreover, there is an urgent need to deploy personnel to inspect vessels and enforce safety norms, it is learnt.
Sources said all tourist boats had been directed to prominently display their passenger capacity to prevent capsize or sinking due to overloading. The Tanur tragedy, the latest in the chain of major accidents involving tourist boats in Kerala, had made a dent into the image of Kerala as a famed destination for backwater/inland water cruise.