Opposition slows commercial seaplane service project

KOCHI: The commercial seaplane service launched in Kerala last week has landed in hot water after the Communist Party of India announced its opposition to the project. The CPI’s state secretary, Pannian Ravindran, said the party will join an agitation by fishermen in Punnamada in Alleppey against the project. He asked the state government to abandon it.

After visiting the water drome in Punnamada, Ravindran said the project will affect the livelihood of the locals. According to him, the state had gone ahead with the project without discussing it with all the stakeholders. The seaplane project was formally launched on June 2 by chief minister Oommen Chandy at Ashtamudi lake in Kollam.

Besides Ashtamudi, the service is available at other popular backwater tourism destinations such as Punnamada, Kumarakom in Kottayam and Bekal in Kasaragod district. A Cessna 206 H six-seater aircraft is being used to connect the backwater destinations. The seaplanes will use airports at Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Kozhikode and Mangalore as base stations.

However, on the first day hundreds of fishermen blocked the landing area in Punnamada lake with their boats to protest against the seaplane service. The fishermen who consider the seaplanes as a threat to the fragile ecology of the region said the project will affect inland fishing.

Environmentalists in the state have also come together to oppose the project. M K Prasad and other environmentalists have decided to back the fishermen in their agitation.