Panaji: Congress party in Goa have demanded fire audit of all the vessels plying in the River Mandovi, days after a cruise vessel caught fire near Panaji.
A passenger cruise vessel caught fire during wee hours of last Saturday which was anchored at Betim jetty across Mandovi river. There was no casualty in the incident.
“The fibre-glass made vessel which was anchored at Betim (other side of River Mandovi) had to travel one nautical miles to reach to Panaji side with fire on it,” GPCC President Amit Patkar told reporters in Panaji on Monday.
Patkar said that it was fortunate that the incident happened during wee hours and there were no passengers boarded on it.
“It was also luck that the vessel did not hit the Casino vessels which are anchored in the Mandovi river basin in Panaji,” he said.
The GPCC chief said that there was no fire fighting equipments in the vessel. “Goa government did not even had any facility to control the fire inside the River. The water tankers of Fire and Emergency Services had to be dependent on land fire brigades to extinguish the fire,” he said.
Patkar said that the vessel was brought to the shore in Panaji and the fire was controlled.
The Congress leader demanded fire audit of all the vessels that are plying in the River Mandovi.
He said that the state government is risking the lives of the people who use these vessels for tourism activity.
Patkar said that the State Captain of Ports Department should also provide a list of vessels that are registered with them, and permitted to ply in River Mandovi.
He alleged that there are several vessels that ply without proper registration from the Captain of Ports Department.
