Majority of the boats that cruise Kerala waters have no valid license. Out of the over 5000 boats that are used for civil and tourist cruising, only 920 boats have a legal license and out of which 50 are of the water transport department of the Kerala government.
This means that about 870 boats including Passenger boats, House boats, Luxury boats, Jankars and speed boats with no license are running up and down the waters of Kerala right now. Out of the 600 house boats which are at service in state only 320 have the fitness certificate. According to the rules, the boats will be legally allowed to run the water only after it gets the fitness certificate from the Chief Inspector of Boats and then gets the Canal License.
To provide service, within the borders of cochin port, it will be enough to have the license of the port but again only about 200 boats have received the ports license. Looking at these numbers, one can naturally have serious doubts on the safety of our waters and of the tourist who cruise them.
