The police on Wednesday raided and seized around 40 boats that were operating on the Poovar backwaters, ferrying tourists from Poovar to Pozhikkara and along the backwaters, on charge of illegal operations without licence.
N. Jayakumar, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Neyyattinkara, said several tourist boat operators were plying the Poovar waters without the mandatory licence from the Ports Department and in the process, flouting all safety norms that were to be followed while ferrying passengers. Inspections revealed that only very few boats had their licence/registration numbers displayed. Around 40 boats had no such displays and did not have adequate safety measures, including life jackets, for all passengers.
“We seized around 40 boats and docked them with the police standing watch. A report has been submitted to the Ports Authority, which will initiate the rest of the proceedings on Thursday,” Mr. Jayakumar said.
Some boat owners were operating several boats using the documents of just one, he said. The raids were conducted to avoid accidents, the casualty of which could be large given the total absence of safety measures in some boats that carried over 15 passengers.
This is not the first time that the police have cracked down on illegal activities on the Poovar backwaters. Earlier this month, a series of raids on illegal sand-mining saw the police destroy around 15 boats, several of them costly fibre boats. The raids on illegal tourist operators would continue, Mr. Jayakumar said.
Safety first
Though the seizure of boats was likely to affect tourist activities, that was not being taken into account since the action was to ensure tourists’ safety, the police said.