The police have registered only two cases of the 11 accidents involving houseboats in the Vembanad lake, including the one on Saturday. The police said no cases were registered in the other incidents since there was no casualty.
But the lax attitude on the part of authorities have made things easy for “law breakers” in the houseboat sector.
The North police had registered a case in an incident where an employee was charred to death when a houseboat caught fire on August 30, 2012. Further investigation showed that the death was caused when the gas cylinder inside the boat caught fire and exploded. Hence, the police closed that case.
After Saturday’s incident, the North Police registered a case under unnatural death. Further action, including imposing of sections of the IPC, will be taken only after investigation by Alappuzha DySP C.F. Roberts is completed.
The District Collector has ordered an inquiry by Additional District Magistrate (ADM) into the incident.
