Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Wednesday directed all Deputy Commissioners and Superintendents of Police to act against those who carry excess load on ferries and buses. He gave the directive at a review meeting.
Survivors of Monday's tragedy at Medartari in lower Dhubri alleged that the ferry carried an excess load of passengers and goods.
Later in the day, Mr. Gogoi, accompanied by AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi and PCC president Bhubaneswar Kalita, visited Medartari ghat in Dhubri district to meet the victims' families.
Mr. Gandhi, who arrived at the Lokapriya Gopinath Bardoloi International Airport in the afternoon, air-dashed to the site in an Indian Air Force helicopter.
The disaster management authorities, quoting a district administration report, said that till 4 p.m. on Wednesday, 21 bodies were recovered and 42 people missing as per FIRs lodged by the families of those missing. In all, 70 persons were rescued by first responders. While these official figures accounted for 133 persons, the survivors claimed that there were about 400 persons on board.
Keywords: boat tragedy, ferry capsize, Tarun Gogoi, AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi, excess loading
In case of private operators, the administration is very much hand in glove with the owners and lobbyists, turning a blind eye to the violation of regulations. Right under Mr. Gogoi's nose, rules are flouted by ferries and private boats operated in Guwahati, the capital city itself, forget about the hinterlands in other districts.
Because there is no required strength of ferries at par with the passengers strength at a particular jetty/harbour the passengers have no option except to avail the available ferry/boat.And it is also a well known fact that the ferries/boats which carries the passengers have no safety materials such as life jacket/life buoy and "life boat" in bigger vessels.This type of irregularities happens with the connivance of the officials concerned.Every where corruption.The offenders aim is to get more money even at the cost of lives.
The boat owners in Dhubri,Assam should not only be booked but also their license should also canceled and all the officers/employees responsible for the
tragedy should be dismissed and should also put into the jail for their callousness with the offenders.
This is part of the price we pay in our country for overloading. It is greed and very poor economic sense that we see buses, lorries and practically every mode of transport overloaded and inefficient. See trucks creeping along on national highways at 20 km/hr? That's overloading. See people squeezing against one another in buses? On how many occasions has the driver lost control because the bus cannot handle the extra load swinging around? The only way to curb this menace is to instruct insurance companies to not pay insurance in case of an overloaded vehicle meeting with an accident.
Operators carry excess load in ferries or buses because there are not enough ferries or buses to cope up with the demand.One has to increase the number of ferries and buses instead of indulging in idle talks of enforcing the rules and regulations.
Don't beleive the words of oppertunistic politicians, as the grief they showing on their face is not real one.They will not do anything. How many mishaps like this one is reccuring every time. After every incident declare some money as a relief to victim's relatives but never take any useful steps to curb the reccurrance of such mishaps. There is no value for peoples' life in India, that's why Italian company offers money instead for the life of Indian fisher men.
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