Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said on Monday there were 45 people including three crew members in the private boat that had the capacity to carry only 25 . This was the result of greed and irresponsibility, he said.
Making a statement on the boat accident in the Assembly here on Monday, Mr. Naidu said two tourists — a woman and a seven-year-old girl — and two crew members remained untraced and search was on to locate them. He said the incident, in which several members of a walkers’ club, some of them belonging to the same family, died, caused him a great deal of agony and grief. The boat belonging to the River Boating & Adventures Private Limited was operating without “taking any of the required permissions”.
He said an ex gratia of ₹10 lakh was announced for every tourist who died and ₹5 lakh for two fishermen, Nadakuduti Pitchaiah and Kanna Sivayya, who “risked their own lives” to save several tourists from getting drowned.
Mr. Naidu said a committee headed by two senior officers (one IAS and one IPS) would make a thorough inquiry how the overloaded boat toppled over after hitting a submerged shoal of sand exactly at the point where water from the Pattiseema Lift Irrigation scheme joined the Krishna river.
Responding to the anxiety of several MLAs that this incident would adversely impact the huge plans the State had to develop sea, river and reservoir-based tourism, the Chief Minister said tourism was very important for the development of the State. Citing the example of Kerala which was thriving because of tourism, Mr. Naidu said Andhra Pradesh would establish an authority on the lines of the Road Transport Authority to establish standard operating procedures (SOPs) for boating operations.
He said all steps should be taken to see that there was no repeat of such an incident. Andhra Pradesh should be doubly cautious because it had a coastline of over 1,000 km.