The boat tragedy has brought into focus the syndicates of mafias which is ruling the waterways of Assam.
Disclosing that hundreds of boats operating in Western Assam’s district do not have fitness certificate, security sources said that boat, which capsized on Monday, did not have any life saving equipment like lifeboats or life jackets. People were sitting on the roof of the ferry, carrying mainly local farmers and their families when it was trapped in a storm close to the India-Bangladesh border.
Those who jumped into the water and swam to the shore from the ill-fated boat on Monday said that the boat was overloaded with people and sacks of rice, among other goods.
Pointing out that neither there is any arrangement to check the boats from carrying passengers more than its capacity nor authorities stop them, security sources said that a powerful syndicate comprising the leaders of the ruling party was controlling the ferry business.
More than 20,000 people, mostly daily wage earners and farmers, travel every day through the ferry services, which is the only means of communications between North and South bank of the Brahamaputra in Dhubri district, security sources said, adding that it was not the first incident of boat capsizing in the area.
Informing that smaller-engine fitted boats keep capsizing every now and then in the area, security sources said that dozens of such boat tragedies goes un-recorded.
The hardship and compulsion of residents travelling through engine-fitted poor quality boats was also in the notice of the government.