This story is from August 21, 2017

Alappuzha houseboats, tourist boats to go on strike on August 30

Owners and employees of houseboats, motor boats and shikara boats are on warpath alleging that the port department is denying licence to them without any reasons.
Alappuzha houseboats, tourist boats to go on strike on August 30
Houseboats at Punnamada Finishing Point.
ALAPPUZHA: Owners and employees of houseboats, motor boats and shikara boats are on warpath alleging that the port department is denying licence to them without any reasons.
The boat operators and their employees, in a press meet here on Monday, announced that they would launch an indefinite agitation from the next month and would observe a token strike on August 30 in this regard.

The boat owners and employees have set up a joint committee for spearheading the agitation.
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The port department is the licensing authority of the boat sector. Josekutty Joseph, a houseboat owner and the agitation leader, said the port department has conducted a survey of boats recently and the department denied licence for almost all the boats in the industry without any proper reasons.
"The houseboats will not get insurance claim without the licence of the port department. The department is still issuing licences for constructing new boats while denying the licence to the existing boats without any reasons. The port department has also failed to give licence on time to the employees of the boats even after the employees successfully completed the test of the port department,'' he said.
"The port department should bring control over the operation of houseboats from other districts in Alappuzha. The steps should also be taken for issuing the licence and pollution control board certificate to the houseboats within their districts. Though we have approached the chief minister, port minister, tourism minister, tourism principal secretary and tourism director in this regard, they have not taken any action on our memorandum. So we will go for indefinite agitation from the next month. As part of it, a token strike will be conducted on August 30. On August 30, no tourism boats will conduct service in Alappuzha and the tourism industry will come to a complete standstill in the district,'' said Sajeev Kumar, another agitation leader.
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