Even as the Greater Cochin Development Authority and the Kochi Corporation have joined hands with Suchitwa Mission to ensure cleanliness of Marine Drive and its precincts, eyesores remain, including in the form of rusting boats, on the popular waterfront.
The Water Transport department had recently taken steps to dismantle its fibre ferries that were in a dilapidated condition, after being berthed at one end of Marine Drive in Ernakulam Boat Jetty for over a decade following litigation. But Fort Queen, a 150-passenger ferry of Kochi Corporation that used to operate in the Fort Kochi-Vypeen route, has been idling adjacent to Kerala Shipping and Inland Navigation Corporation’s (KSINC) jetty near Kerala High Court.
The heavily-rusted vessel that is just about seven years old is among the eyesores on the otherwise-scenic Marine Drive waterfront. It was tailor made to operate in the turbulent and passenger-dense Fort Kochi-Vypeen seamouth, after a fishing vessel rammed a rickety junkar in 2015, resulting in the death of 11 passengers near the Fort Kochi jetty, the sources said.
With Kochi Corporation unable to ready a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to operate the ferry, Fort Queen was being operated by KSINC, the agency that also built the vessel that is said to be the biggest ferry in operation in Kochi. It was built as per specifications of a boat that ferried commuters through the sea from the Kanyakumari beach to Vivekananda Rock Memorial, they added.
Sources in KSINC said the ferry was withdrawn from service many months ago and is due for the mandatory dry docking. “Kochi Corporation is yet to decide on this, although we sent them many letters in this regard and to take it away from our limited berthing space. They must also identify a corridor to operate the ferry.”
Responding to this, Mayor M. Anilkumar said that he had a detailed discussion with KSINC officials in this regard. “The Corporation is currently unable to set apart funds for the ferry’s dry-docking. This could be taken up once the Council took a call on floating an SPV to oversee the operation and maintenance of the Corporation’s ferries, which also include a pair of ro-ro ferries, the fleet of lorries, and other vehicles that it owned,” he added.
