UDF grounds seaplane project

THIUVANANTHAPURAM: After making much hype over these years, the UDF also seems to have lost hopes in making the seaplane service a reality as it has found no mention in its manifesto. As the government failed to take the fishing community into confidence by convincing them that it would not affect fishing activities, seaplane remains as a distant dream. With the elections, the project has been almost kept in the cold storage.

Officials associated with the project say no steps could be initiated now as the model code of conduct for the polls is in place. “We are not even supposed to talk about it,” said an official of the Kerala Tourism Infrastructure Limited (KTIL), its nodal agency. Sources said the government did not want to invite the wrath of the fishers on the eve of the polls considering the vote bank.

It was with much hype that the state formally inaugurated the seaplane service from Ashtamudi Lake in Kollam on June 2, 2013. But fishermen of Ashtamudi and Vembanad lakes where the water-dromes were set up had stiffly opposed it forcing the authorities to put on hold the plans to launch commercial operations.
Even as the location of the water-dromes was shifted and studies cited that seaplane operations would not affect the livelihood of fisherfolks, the government could not convince them.

Though it was decided at a meeting in August to conduct a live demonstration at Ashtamudi lake to convince them that it would not affect their fishing activities, nothing had taken place.

Meanwhile, a seaplane operator had sought permission for operating services between Lakshadweep and Kochi and also between the airports in the state. But they were yet to get mandatory clearances from the director general of civil aviation.