Boat Tragedy: YS Jagan Directs Ex Gratia To Be Transferred To Telangana Govt For Quick Disbursal

Amaravati: Thirty-eight days after the Royal Vasishta Boat sank killing 51 people, the boat was finally pulled out of river Godavari on Tuesday.

It may be recalled that Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy announced Rs 10 lakh as ex-gratia to the families of the victims who died in the boat tragedy.

Also Read: YS Jagan Announces 10 Lakh Ex-Gratia For Devipatnam Boat Tragedy Victims

It is reported that as the paper work related to the distribution of ex-gratia to the families of victims from Telangana was getting delayed, the Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy directed officials to transfer the amount to the Telangana government account first. After which the Telangana government would complete necessary formalities of identifying the victims and distribute the ex-gratia to them from their end. Thegesture was appreciated by the kin of the victims who were grateful to the Government for making continued efforts to retrieve the boat.

After the boat accident on September 15th , YS Jagan had called for an emergency meeting with officials and ordered to stop all the boat services on rivers in the state with immediate effect.

He also instructed the Home Minister M Sucharitha, Ministers Kurasala Kannababu and Tourism Minister Avanthi Srinivas to personally monitor the rescue operations', and ordered for deployment of NDRF, SDRF personnel, and the Naval services to help in rescue operations

The Chief Minister expressed his ire as to how a boat was allowed permission, when the river was in a spate and directed officials to conduct an enquiry to examine how the lapses and how the accident occurred.

Also Read: Special Enquiry Committee To Probe Boat Accident

In a crack down on boats ferrying passengers in the State, YS Jagan ordered officials to inspect the licences and also check whether the necessary safety gear and equipment were present in these tourist boats and called for an expert committee to suggest guidelines to permit these boats.

The Royal Vasishta, capsized on September 15 en-route to Papikondalu carrying about 77 tourists, after getting caught in a whirlpool. While the Kuchuluru villagers rescued 26 passengers, bodies of 39 people were retrieved over the past 38 days.

Also Read: In One Of India’s Largest Rescue Ops, Royal Vasishta Extracted