Seven arrested in boat capsize case

Vijayawada: City police arrested seven persons in connection with the death of 21 tourists in the boat capsize incident that took place near Pavitra Sangamam in River Krishna on Sunday evening.

The above accused started boat operations in Krishna river without obtaining permission from the Water Resources Department. While 21 tourists from Prakasam and Nellore districts lost their lives in the boat tragedy, 20 others were rescued by local fishermen and rescue teams.

The mishap was caused due to overloading of tourists and driving by unlicensed driver. Moreover, precautionary measures were not taken by the boat operators M/s River Boating and Adventures for the safety of tourists.

The arrest of the accused has exposed the nexus between the employees and officials of APTDC with the private boat operators. Two officials have invested in the company River Boating and Adventures on the names of their family members.

Police Commissioner D Gautam Sawang on Wednesday produced the seven accused including a woman before the media. Sesham Moda Kondala Rao is the main accused, who had done the paper work to float the company.

Other members are Neelam Seshagiri Rao, Machavaraju Manoj Kumar alias Chitti, Vinjamuri Vijaya Saradhi, Gedela Srinu (boat driver), Bhaira Swamy, crew member and Gedela Lakshmi wife of Gedela Srinu.

With the implementation of new tourism policy by the State government last year, the main accused Kondala Rao with the technical support and assistance of Gedela Srinu floated a boating company and entered into agreement with APTDC to operate boats in Krishna river.

Though they entered into MoU with APTDC and floated the company, they failed to take permission from the Water Resources Department to operate boats in the river, said the Police Commissioner.

They mobilised Rs 74.5 lakh and started the operations in the river recently. Earlier, they decided to start the company with Rs 1.5 crore but were able to pool up only Rs 74.5 lakh.

On November 12, the accused operated the boat with 44 persons including three crew members from Bhavani island and it overturned near Pavitra Sangamam. Following the mishap, boat driver Gedela Srinu escaped and later he was nabbed by the police.

Sawang said the boat operators have arranged plastic chairs, which were totally unsafe on boats.“The movable chairs moved towards in one direction all of a sudden due to ripples and it resulted in capsize of the boat,” said the Police Commissioner.

He felt that if chairs were fitted to the boat, the mishap could have been averted. He further said the operator overloaded the boat as against the prescribed capacity of only 25 seats.

The accused purchased an old boat in Vizag, refitted it in Kakinada and later brought it to Krishna river for ferrying. The boat operator Gedela Srinu was also not trained properly to steer the boat. The organisers have not arranged life jackets for the tourists.

The Police Commissioner said criminal cases were booked against the accused and investigation will continue further. Replying to a question, he ruled out the possibility of the boat hitting the sand bars and capsizing. He said there was sufficient water in the river for the movement of the boat and ripples in waters created the problem.