No one wants to substitute a breezy ride for a negligible fare with a bumpy ride at triple that cost.
That explains the anguish of daily commuters between Fort Kochi and Ernakulam whenever the boat service is disrupted, which happens frequently.
Then they have to rely on bus service, which takes between 45 minutes and one hour in comparison to the almost joy ride of 15 minutes on a boat. Also, the boat trip costs just Rs.4 whereas the bus fare comes to about Rs.13.
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District Collector K. Mohammed Y. Safirulla said that a meeting of stakeholders to find a solution to the problem would be held next week.
“Out of the four boats operated by the State Water Transport Department (SWTD) in the Fort Kochi-Ernakulam route, one has not been in service for months now for want of maintenance. Another boat also developed snag and had suspended service for a few days,” said S. Padmanabha Mallya, secretary, Paschimakochi Passengers Association.
Another boat operates between Ernakulam Embarkation and Fort Kochi and two other services in the Ernakulam Embarkation-Fort Kochi-Vypeen route. A total of 60 trips should be operated from Fort Kochi in normal circumstances a day, whereas, Mr. Mallya alleges , only about half that number is available now.
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The only relief is the diversion of a boat operating in the Varapuzha route to Fort Kochi during weekends. The boat operating in the Vypeen route serves Fort Kochi erratically, said Mr. Mallya who also alleges delaying tactics by the SWTD officials in the name of maintenance.
Shaji V. Nair, Director, SWTD, however, said services in the route are more ore less normal though he admitted to sporadic issues because of boat maintenance works.
“Passengers’ main demand is the reintroduction of an additional service, which we had operated immediately after the Fort Kochi boat tragedy last year. That was a makeshift arrangement to address the particular situation and is not part of our regular schedule,” he said.
Asked about the delayed maintenance works, Mr. Nair said that it’s always better to undertake comprehensive maintenance rather than piecemeal arrangement, leading to frequent disruption of service.
The commissioning of a dry dock and sanctioning of 20 maintenance-related posts at Alappuzha and its proposed mechanisation in another six months at an estimated cost of Rs.2.8 crore would facilitate prompt preventive maintenance, he said. The dry dock and adjoining slipway facilitate maintenance of eight boats at a time.
However, the association is in no mood to relent and is set to embark on a flex and poster campaign citing the various issues plaguing the boat service in the route.
M.P. Praveen