Fuelling station project hits a road block

KOCHI: The Kerala State Water Transport Department’s (KSWTD) ambitious project for setting up a fuelling station at the Ernakulam Boat Jetty has come to a standstill with the District Collector issuing a stop memo. The order said the fuelling station was being built on a no man’s land and that the department has not received any nod from the government to carry out the work. The unexpected decision to stop the work has raised many eyebrows as there are allegations that the order was issued following pressure from private boat owners.According Ernakulam Boat Jetty superintendent Joseph Xavier, the department received the order from the Collector’s office on May 1O, asking them to suspend all ongoing activities of the fuelling station. “The Collector’s order was unexpected. In 2009, we received sanction from the transport department to start the work. And this year, we received orders from the government to complete the work by May-end, as part of the 100-day programme,” he said.In 2009, the then-Collector M Beena, after a meeting with the Additional Director of the transport ministry, tourism department Joint Director, CPWD officials , DTO and the boat jetty officials, had issued a ‘No Objection’ certificate to the project.“The ministry is well aware of the huge losses faced by KSWTD every day as they have to go all the way to the Thevara Boat Jetty for fuelling their boats,” added Joseph Xavier. “The boat jetty operators create all these trouble because they are afraid that they will be forced to shift from the boat jetty, which have been illegally occupied by them, once the fuelling station comes up there,” Xavier added.However, Ernakulam Boat Jetty Tourist Boat Operators Association president Ajay Kumar refuted the argument and said that they had approached the Collector stating that the location where the fuelling station is being set up is extremely dangerous as it is located close to the Children’s park. Also, we have been asked to use this boat jetty to ferry our services. We are not willing to move even if the fuelling station comes up here,” Ajay Kumar said. Meanwhile, the District Collector said that he would be visiting the site and will confirm his decisions regarding the matter soon.