A decade on, kin of Fort Kochi boat tragedy victims continue wait for ‘promised’ jobs

A decade since the Fort Kochi boat tragedy, which claimed 11 lives and cast a pall of gloom over Onam days in Kochi in 2015, the victims’ kin are still waiting for a promise from the government. While the government promptly paid the monetary compensation committed to the victims, there is still no clarity regarding jobs promised to dependents of the deceased.

The dependents of the victims were paid ₹5 lakh each by the State government and ₹2 lakh each by the Kochi Corporation. The medical expenses of the injured were met fully by the government. Besides, the Corporation paid ₹10,000 each to them. However, there has been no word from the State on the promise that the deserving dependents of the deceased would be given government jobs, according to activists who have been raising the demand for years.

They said most of the families of the 11 people who lost their lives in the tragedy were in need of a secure source of income and a government job, at least on contract basis, would have been of a huge help to them.

The West Manthara Residents Development Association has submitted requests multiple times to the government to initiate procedures to give jobs to the victims’ families. The Kochi tehsildar had reported to the District Collector on February 9, 2021 that an inquiry conducted by the Fort Kochi village officer had found that the dependents were yet to get a job “though the government had promised it”.

The field inquiry was conducted following up a petition filed by the association to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan online. Earlier in 2019, the Kochi Corporation had informed the association that the Corporation council had not taken any decision to provide employment to dependents of the deceased.

Kochi MLA K.J. Maxi, meanwhile, downplayed the demand for jobs, saying there was no such promise from the government. “Nobody has approached me with the request,” he said, adding that any request would have been duly followed up.

Zachariah Fernandes, president of the association and also a State executive member of the AITUC, contested the MLA’s claim. “The UDF government led by Oommen Chandy made the promise, but it did not keep it before it left in 2016. The Pinarayi Vijayan-led government is going to complete its second term, but the promise has not been kept yet. We have been raising the same demand on every anniversary. People’s representatives including Mr. Maxy and Mayor M. Anilkumar have attended the commemorative meets,” he said.

It was on August 26 that MV Bharat, the ferry plying in the Vypeen– Fort Kochi sector met with the accident when a speeding fishing craft hit it. There were around 40 passengers on the ill-fated boat.