With increasing number of hartals and strikes crippling the tourism sector, particularly the house boat sector in the district, house boat owners are demanding that Government exempt the tourism sector from hartals and strikes.
It was a virtual two-day disruption of normal life in the district with the hartal called by Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Youth Movement in Alappuzha on Monday and the 24-hour general strike called by trade unions across the country from Monday midnight.
Jacob Samuel, president, All Kerala Houseboat Owners Association told The Hindu that this has affected the house boat sector badly. “The driver who drove the foreigners to the Punnamada finishing point in the town to embark a house boat at around 4 a.m. on Tuesday was threatened and the tourists were not allowed to make their trip. There were many such instances on the day. I also had feedback from a couple of tourists who came to enjoy the backwaters that they would think many times before coming to Kerala again for a house boat trip, “ he said.
The houseboats that arrived to disembark their passengers at around 9 a.m. on Tuesday were also not allowed to anchor at the shore. “I had to call the help of police to allow the boat to be anchored to the shore and let the foreigners out,” he said. The check-in time of house boats are usually 12 noon and check-out time is at 9 a.m. next day.
Former Tourism Minister, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan had told the Kerala Assembly on June 20, 2006 that consensus would be evolved among political parties to exempt the sector. The draft of the Kerala Tourism Policy 2011 also speaks on exempting the sector from hartals and general strikes. However, these proposals made little headway. Now the Association is gearing up to petition the Tourism Minister in this regard.
