Ferry accidents: Rules confined in files, not on ground

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: After every ferry accident instructions and directives regarding precautionary measures keep coming from the authorities concerned to avert such incidents in future. The irony, however, is that such instructions are confined only to office files.

During the regime of Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, there was a ferry accident at Sukreswar Ghat in Guwahati on the day of Chath Puja. On April 30, 2012 in the regime of Late Tarun Gogoi, there was a ferry capsize at Medartari in the Dhubri District. During the tenure of Sarbananda Sonowal, such an accident occurred on September 5, 2018, in North Guwahati.

After every such accident the authorities concerned issued instructions to adopt precautionary measures, but who cares? The then Additional Chief Secretary Jitesh Khosla inquired into the 2012 Dhubri ferry accident and gave some recommendations to the government. However, the department did precious little to implement those recommendations strictly.

After the ferry accident at North Guwahati on September 5, 2018, the Assam Inland Water Transport Regulatory Authority Act got enacted to promote the development of safe, efficient, reliable and sound inland water transport in the State. However, the clauses of the Act have not got reflected on the ground.

This Act makes registration of vessels and operators; issuance of licences, certificates and permissions; providing an adequate number of lifejackets and lifebuoys against each passenger; monitoring the carrying capacity and fitness of vessels; etc., in every ferry service mandatory. The examination of wooden vessels after every two years to ascertain their fitness is one of the points under the Act.

However, the reality is that even now single-engine private boats ferry passengers, goods, motorbikes etc. Left with no alternatives, people board such overloaded boats risking their lives. Such ferries bother the least for safety measures. They take the advantage of the lack of regulations from the Inland Water Transport Department (IWTD). As if to cap it all, in many a case, they have unholy nexuses with some unscrupulous officials of the department.

Inland water transportation is the second mode of connectivity in Assam. It is next only to surface transport. In districts like Dhubri, Goalpara, Barpeta, Kamrup, South Salmari, Lakhimpur, Morigaon, Nagaon etc., life cannot get-go without country boats. The lessees of such ferries defy all safety measures.

If the government wants to cleanse the rot in the department, it has to get it done from the top to bottom.

Also Read: After Majuli Boat Mishap Passengers Were Seen Crossing Brahmaputra By Govt Ferry, Wearing Life Jackets

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