Lucknow, June 17 (IANS) The boat that capsized in the Ganga river in Uttar Pradesh’s Ballia district Monday drowning 61 people, including 23 children, was being ‘operated illegally for ferrying people’, an official said Thursday.
‘It (boat) was an illegal one… We have found that it was not registered with the zila parishad (local government organisation that looks after administration of rural areas), which regulates operation of boats,’ District Magistrate Senthil Pandiyan told IANS over telephone from Ballia, some 300 km from Lucknow.
‘During preliminary investigation, it has also come to the fore that the boatman did not have the prescribed licence, issued by the zila parishad, for ferrying the people,’ he added.
According to the police, those in the boat were going midstream to perform rituals related to the ‘mundan’ (tonsure) ceremony of their children.
Following a preliminary enquiry into the mishap that occurred June 14, the district administration has now sought an explanation from the zila parishad on how the boat was operating without following the procedural norms.
‘Regulation of the procedural norms comes in the ambit of zila parishad. I have also asked them to come up with a detailed report on the authorized number of ghats, boats and boat-men in the district,’ said Pandiyan.
Significantly, the Ujwalia bank (ghat), near which the mishap took place, is also not authorised.
‘We have been told that there are 14 authorised ghats along the Ganga and the Ghagra rivers in the district,’ said Pandiyan.
When contacted, chairman of the zila parishad R.M. Yadav said: ‘We will only report to the district administration to prove our point.’
Meanwhile, boatman Harivansh, who managed to escape after the accident, has been booked for criminal negligence in connection with the mishap.
‘The boatman is still at large. Efforts are on to nab him,’ Inspector Shobnath Yadav told reporters in Ballia.
