Boats should be registered with Dept of Ports

Director of Ports K Pravin says boats carrying a weight of 15 tonnes and more should be registered with Department of Ports

Kakinada: All the boats carrying goods weighing 15 tonnes and more should be registered with the Department of Ports, said the Director of Ports Koya Pravin here on Saturday.

Addressing a press conference here, Pravin said that according to the internal waterway transportation law all the boats except the fishing boats should be registered at the Kakinada office. He made it clear that Andhra Pradesh government has brought a new law on inland vessels in 2017. A GO in this regard was issued on November 8. According to the Act, all the passenger, cargo, pleasure and sports boats should be get registered with the Department of Ports.

He said that following the recent mishap in River Krishna at Pavitra Sangamam, the State government has appointed a three-member committee to strengthen the internal waterway transportation.
He further informed that the registration offices are located at Kakinada and Machilipatnam in the State. He also said that from Srikakulam to West Godavari, the boats should be registered at Kakinada port office while in eight other districts, they should be registered at the Machilipatnam port office.

He further said that they have given some grace period for the old boats to reach the standards set by the government. He further informed that their department is taking measures to dig and extract some rare earth minerals which are used in the atomic research and production at the seashores. Kakinada Port Officer K Dharmasasta and Deputy Director of I and PR were present.