There are some journeys that we take for granted. We undertake them seamlessly and without thinking. They become a part of our daily lives. Like the local trains in Mumbai, like the tube in London, like the sky train in Bangkok. Like the ferries in Goa.
For the greatest period of time, when Goa was the Goa it once was, ferries have been the leitmotif of not just the connect between the north and the south, between Panjim and North Goa but also a connect between people.
If there is one stand out image which freezes Goa in a frame it’s the ferry and the palm tree. They connected not just places, they connected people and lives, they cemented friendships and relationships. They were spots where matches were made and alliances sealed. Which is why, when there is an incident of a ferry hitting a sand bar and getting stuck with passengers stranded, some for over seven hours because they did not want to leave their vehicles and jump onto their rescue boats, the people of Goa – especially those of a certain vintage, will feel a sense of unease and also heave a sigh of relief that everyone came back safe.
But there are important lessons to be learnt and perhaps deep introspection done about whether the authorities across the years have spent time and effort to ensure that this humble and emotional form of transport is safe, especially when it moves so many locals from bank to bank.
Just because for over 31 years the same ferry boats have functioned on a daily basis, ferrying hundreds across Goa’s rivers and backwaters, we cannot not prepare for a mishap or a disaster.
While authorities claim that all agencies swung into action and provided all help to rescue passengers stuck between Panjim and Betim on Thursday, and get them out, there is no room for complacency. Firstly, there is an immediate need to ensure safety on board. The staff crew and passengers must have access to life jackets. Moreover each ferry can have a small tug boat, a mini rescue vessel. And importantly each jetty should have a rescue boat handy to get to a ferry in case of disasters.
In most islands they are the only source of transport. They ferry the young and old including patients whose ambulances have to be transported by the same ferries. With a substantial increase in population, the ferries may not be able to take the increasing load as the years go by. Goa needs stronger, modern ferries with proper seating and safety equipments like seat belts and perhaps a bay to park bicycles and motorised two wheelers.
Let the government take this incident as a wakeup call and ask the River Navigation department to immediately prepare a modernisation plan which will include new ferries with increased safety measures, rescue equipment, better communication and better networking with the coastal police. If this is done then our ferries will be freed from their limited role of moving from one end of a bank to the other and become vehicles for river navigation throughout Goa’s backwaters.
It is only then that the joy, romance and thrill of the Goa’s ferries, symbols of Goenkarponn, coupled with their safety, will return. Won’t it then be quite the trip?
