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| What caused the Kerala boat tragedy? |
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| Posted by Suresh Kumar on Oct 06, 2009 |
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| The cause of the accident sheds light on the negligence and corruption going on at various tourist places in the state. Its shocking to know that most of the boats carrying tourists in Kerala are not made as per standards, that they are never tested for their safety before inducting into servie which is mandatory in any country, there are not enough qualified inspectors to test and certify the safety of boats in the state and the materials used for construction of the boats are often not suitable for service in various lakes inthe state. Such unfit and defective boats are used in most places. Then there are not enough qualified boat drivers, helpers etc. Also even in places like Thekkady where people from various parts of India and abroad arrive, there are not many officials with language skills to explain and help people. Once in the boat, life jackts are never used and not enough lifeboys are on hand to control the tourists. Worst, places like Thekkady do not even have proper search and rescue equipments or search lights and qualified medical staff to attend to incase of such emergency. Another major factor is corruption by officials. Most of the boats carry much more than the allowable number of tourists on boats as tickets are sold in the black..this is the reason KTDC didn't even have a proper count of number of people on board when it capsized.... After a major boat tragedy in the state couple of years ago, an inquiry commission was set up and recommended several steps to avoid such mishaps, none of which were implemented. If government has no intention to implement their report, why keep a commission for inquiry, just to spend more money? So every step from the start, tourists face real danger to their lives and the total responsibility for such mishaps rests with the government and the officials. They cannot wash their hands of this responsibility. Hope NDTV will expose the fatal gaps in the safety of tourists in various parts of not just in Kerala, but other places as well. Atleast people should be aware that their lives could be in danger when they go out for pleasure trips like in Thekkady. |
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| Posted by Arun on Oct 06, 2009 |
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| "Media should periodically do a follow-up on things like these" - Are we over trusting the media..End of the day media too is a business and their priority is clear - Any idea on what precautions are done after the Bombay seige (which we all watched like a live crictet telecast) and the vctims' family?? That is not media's job :) |
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