GUWAHATI: The one-man inquiry committee headed by additional chief secretary, Jishnu Barua to probe the September 5 ferry accident, recorded statements of survivors, victims’ families and a few organisations of North Guwahati on Saturday.
The mishap near Ashwaklanta on the north bank of the Brahmaputra claimed at least four lives, with one of them yet to be traced.
The committee formed in mid-September will have to submit its inquiry report within 30 days of its constitution. The panel met the survivors as well as the families of the victims and a few active organisations of North Guwahati to take inputs and feedback in regard to the mishap.
“We submitted a five-page statement to the committee mentioning our perspective on what has not done by the Assam Inland Water Transport department and what needs to be done to prevent mishaps such as this in future,” Nirmaleswar Goswami, the chief coordinator of the North Guwahati-Guwahati Sanjogi Dolong Nirman Dabi Samiti, told The Shillong Times on Sunday.
The Samiti formed in 2014 has already demanded a CBI probe into the alleged “irregularities” in the Assam inland water transport department besides reiterating its claim for a bridge, particularly in the wake of the frequent mishaps on the river and the subsequent ban on country boats.
“But a high-level probe into the system of functioning of the IWT department is the need of the hour as the inquiry committee constituted after the Medattari mishap in 2012 has not come out with anything effective,” Goswami rued.
“The resolutions adopted in the meeting at Pandu two days after the Medattari incident have not materialised either, be it in regard to regulation of the ferries or adhering to safety norms such as stocking life-saving equipment on boats, monitoring of load and fitness certificates and licences of ferries and drivers respectively,” he rued.
Goswami further demanded that the three new ferries, as promised by the state transport minister, need to be launched in the three ghats immediately as daily commuters have been at the receiving end after the ban on country boats post September 5.
Meanwhile the IWT department on Saturday launched the trial run of a 28-metre-long steel catamaran between Guwahati and North Guwahati (Majgaon). The catamaran, which has a capacity to ferry 150 passengers besides four light motor vehicles and 80 motorcycles, is likely to be launched by the end of this month.