Safety threat to Tank Bund boat ride

Lumbini Park needs no introduction. As one of the premier tourist destinations in the city, this place is choc-a-bloc with visitors throughout the year. The boat ride to the Hussain Sagar Lake from the park is a lucrative business for the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC). The tourism department owned a total of seven mechanised boats. Two were brought in 1999, one in 2002, one in 2004 and three in 2008. Of this, two were given away to Karimnagar in March this year. Post 2008, the APTDC also purchased party boats, Jet Ski, speed boats and patoon boats.

It’s a common sight at the Lumbini Park to see huge crowds waiting for a cruise on mechanised boats, as the cost of a ride is just Rs 25 per person. On weekends, more than 3,000 people take the boat ride and on a public holiday, the number shoots upto 5,000. Depending on the number of holidays per month, 65,000- 1 lakh people take the boat ride per month. So it’s no rocket science that the APTDC is minting huge profits through the boat service.

For the past five years, the revenue earned through this service was Rs 11.79 crores. But the irony is that, the condition of those boats is pathetic and is not maintained properly. Apart from that, there are insufficient life jackets.

This is a serious threat to the safety of the commuters. Despite the heavy earnings, only Rs 37.9 lakh was spent on repairs of boats. Witch the amount that has been spent on repairs, they could have easily bought new mechanised boats.