Collector inspects boats stationed at Rameswaram jetty for Katchatheevu festival

Ramanathapuram Collector inspects boats for St. Anthony's church festival, ensuring safety measures and coordination among various departments.

Ramanathapuram Collector Simranjeet Singh Kahlon along with other officials on Tuesday inspected boats stationed ready at Rameswaram jetty for carrying passengers to the St. Anthony’s church festival in Katchatheevu. 

The Collector said that as various departments like fisheries, customs, police, navy, coast guard, immigration, among others would be involved in organising the event, a coordination meeting to learn about the respective departments’ arrangements for the festival was organised.  

The number of people travelling via boat to the islet was already determined, so necessary measures that should be taken to prevent illegal travel were instructed to the officials, he added.  

M.V. Prabhavathi, Deputy Director, Fisheries Department, said 78 mechanised boats and 23 country craft boats had been finalised for the event. 

“As they would be carrying a lot of people, factors like boats’ stability, capacity, facilities, documents like license, registration certificate, permits, emergency equipment like lifesaving jackets, navigation equipment like GPS, among others were checked,” she added.  

Instructions for the fishermen to avoid illegal transportation of goods and people were given, she noted.  

As the St.Anthony’s church event would be held on March 14 and 15, the Fisheries Department has announced that tokens for boats to enter the sea for fishing would not be issued on March 12 and 15.