Boat that capsized had sailed without permit, Maharashtra government all at sea

MUMBAI: The speedboat which capsized off Colaba while on way to the proposed site of the Shivaji memorial on Wednesday did not have permission to sail, preliminary inquiries have revealed. A chartered accountant from Santacruz, Siddhesh Pawar (35), drowned in the accident. There are several other irregularities as well, including that the boat did not have the mandatory mechanism to send out distress signals, that despite being experienced, the boat's master (captain) chose a rocky sea route, and that the boat was overloaded.

"Permission of the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) is necessary for a vessel to sail. The boat only had a fitness certificate issued by the Maharashtra Maritime Board," said an MbPT official. He said the trust will file an FIR against the boat's owners/operators once inquiries (being conducted by the state government, Mumbai Maritime Board and MbPT) are over.

Citing what appears as mystifying, the public works department said that the speedboat was not meant to be a part of the official entourage and who ordered the boat is a point of investigation.

PWD officials said the department had hired just three vessels: one speedboat for VIPs (politicians and senior bureaucrats), and two passenger boats, each with a capacity to accommodate 70 people. An official said the capsized boat didn't even have a vehicle traffic service (VTS), a mechanism mandated by maritime law through which distress signals are produced.

The route chosen by the entourage has also come under question. Experts had pointed out on Wednesday, after the accident, that the route was hazardous. The day after, senior government officials who were part of the entourage said this was the first time that they started for the memorial site from the Gateway; on all previous occasions, the starting point for boats headed for the site, which is off Marine Drive, has been Girgaum Chowpatty. "We all just sat in the speedboat without thinking much. After the accident, it came to light that the boat was not hired by the government," said an official.

On an MMB source blaming the speedboat's master, MMB's chief executive officer Vikram Kumar said, "It is too early to speculate on whether the chosen route or the condition of the vessel were to be blamed for the accident."

A source said the boat's capacity was 20, but many people got into it, overloading the vessel. "When the master refused to start the boat, a few people had to leave. Still, 25 remained on it, making the boat carry more people than its approved capacity," said a source.

PWD minister Chandrakant Patil (BJP) said the event was organized by the government and slammed the opposition for calling the accident sabotage. Why he and the CM not part of the event? "Since the CM was in Kolhapur, I was with him there. It is not necessary for everyone to be at every event," he said.

A senior MbPT official said an inquiry into the accident is being conducted by deputy conservator Captain Anand Karkare.