Two days after the Tanur boat accident occurred causing 22 deaths and 10 injuries, including 11 children, it has come to the fore that Kerala Ministers, V Abdurahiman (Minister of Fisheries), and P. A Mohammed Riyas (Minister for Public Works Department and Tourism) had ignored the complaints about the registration of the Atlantic boat issued to them by the boat operator.
One fisherman of Tanur and the boat operator Mamujin Puraikkal Muhajid said that he had complained about the illegality of the boat Atlantic when Ministers P A Muhammad Riyas and V Abdurahiman had arrived for the inauguration of the floating bridge in Tanur. He said Minister V Abdurahiman scolded him while Minister Riyas ignored the complaint.
“I told them that the boat had no registration. Minister V Abdurahiman asked if he was the one who decides that the boat has no registration. When told Minister Riyas about it, he asked to file a written complaint with his PA, but no further steps were taken after that,” Muhajid stated. The floating bridge in Tanur was inaugurated on April 23.
The boat overturned on May 7 claiming 22 lives
The leisure boat Atlantic capsized in Ottumpuram Thooval Theeram beach in Tanur, Malappuram, Kerala, India, on May 7, 2023, in the late evening. The event aboard a boat carrying 37 passengers resulted in 22 fatalities and 10 injuries, including 11 children.
Both the chief minister and the prime minister expressed their profound sadness over the horrible incident. As a gesture of respect for the victims, the Kerala government proclaimed May 8, 2023, as a day of official mourning and postponed all official events.
The relatives of the deceased would each receive financial aid worth Rs 2 lakh, from the central government. Also, the affected families would get cash aid totalling Rs. 10 lakhs as declared by the Kerala government.
Meanwhile, a case was registered against the boat’s owner Nasar for culpable homicide and he was arrested on 8 May from Kozhikode. It was reported that he had gone into hiding after the incident.
BJP demands the resignation of the Minister for a serious lapse
Taking cognizance of the incident, the Kerala BJP has slammed Tourism Minister P.A. Mohammed Riyas and demanded his resignation for serious lapses resulting in the Tanur boat tragedy on Sunday that claimed 22 lives.
K. Surendran, the state BJP president, said that “no proper action was taken after the Thekkady tragedy” in 2009 when 45 people drowned at a well-known resort in Thekkady, the majority of them were tourists from neighbouring states. According to Surendran, the Tanur disaster would have been averted if appropriate measures had been adopted in response to the Thekkady catastrophe report.
“Riyas has to quit taking moral responsibility. If proper action was taken, 22 lives could have been saved. The only thing in Kerala that happens is rhetoric and advertisements… there are no effective guidelines for the operations of houseboats… No one has any clue of how many houseboats are there in Kerala or are there any effective monitoring being done,” the BJP leader added.
“There is no system in place to prevent such tragedies as no one is interested in safety and security. We demand a proper probe and subsequent action based on the probe,” Surendran said.
Minister P. A Mohammed Riyas is son in law of CM Pinarayi Vijayan, has a controversial past
It is important to note that Minister Mohammed Riyas who contested elections and won from the Beyopre constituency is son-in-law of CM Pinarayi Vijayan and was inducted into the Ministry by the CM in May 2021.
It is also pertinent to note that Mohammed Riyas was associated with the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) and has an extremely controversial past. Mohammed Riyas, who rose through the ranks in the Left serving in the Students’ Federation of India, the DYFI, and then CPI-M, has been accused of orchestrating violence in Kerala.
In fact, in March 2021, Riyas was sent to judicial custody for orchestrating violence near the Air India office in Kozhikode to protest against the air tariff hike and reduction of in-flight services by the national carrier. A case was registered against four people, including Rajesh, for breaking the law after the DYFI protests had turned violent. The two accused, including Pinarayi Vijayan’s son-in-law Mohammed Riyaz, was later granted bail in the case.
Riyaz is also infamous for leading ‘beef cooking’ protests after the centre sought to regulate cattle purchase and sale.
