Congress issues ultimatum over safety audit after cruise vessel fire

Panaji:
Congress gave a 15-day ultimatum to the Captain of Ports (CoP) to conduct a safety audit of all the vessels licenced to operate in the state's waters. Citing the early morning fire aboard a drifting cruise boat, state Congress president Amit Patkar claimed that the CoP department is inviting a man-made disaster by shirking safety norms.
Tired of too many ads? go ad free now
Patkar said that firefighting equipment remains absent on vessels that are currently operating in Goa's waterways, including on the river navigation department's ferries.
'We are giving the CoP and the shipping ministry 15 days to conduct a safety audit and structural audit for all the vessels that have got licences and put it in the public domain. Vessels that are not under IRS classification are actually supposed to be scrapped,' said Patkar.
He said that if the audit report is not released within 15 days, Congress would hold a protest outside the department office and 'force out the information'.
Congress has criticised the department's handling of the fire aboard the cruise vessel as well as an earlier fire onboard a ferry boat.
'The CoP tug should have a 30m range for the firefighting mechanism. But that tug could not fight a fire even on its own deck. This fire was a serious incident. Tomorrow, if another boat catches fire, how will they fight it in the middle of the river? Will they rely on firefighters on land to put out the fire?' said Patkar.
He said that the vessels that do not meet the Indian registrar of shipping classification or any other international classification should be seized and scrapped.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

New Indian Express

25 minutes ago

• New Indian Express

Replace India's national flag with a saffron flag: Veteran BJP leader N Sivarajan

PALAKKAD: Inviting widespread outrage, likely to escalate political debate in days to come, veteran BJP leader and former National Council member N Sivarajan made a controversial call to replace India's national flag with a saffron flag. The incident occurred during a public protest organised by the BJP at the Anchuvilakku Junction in Palakkad, where the party accused both the LDF and UDF of insulting 'Bharat Mata'. During the protest, Sivarajan, who is the BJP sitting councillor in Palakkad municipality, stated that political parties should be prohibited from using flags resembling the national tricolour. Targeting the Congress and NCP, he further said they should adopt distinct flags -- suggesting that the Congress would use a green flag. Sivarajan went on to say that Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, who he alleged were ignorant of Indian history, could instead fly the Italian flag.

New Indian Express

25 minutes ago

• New Indian Express

'Power over principles will backfire,' warns ex-Gujarat minister Nanubhai as he slams BJP's changing culture

AHMEDABAD: Former Education Minister Nanubhai Vanani has launched a sharp attack on the BJP's internal culture, warning that 'gaining power by sidelining principles' could backfire. Despite the BJP's record-breaking win in the 2022 Gujarat Assembly elections with 156 seats and its grip over all 8 municipal corporations, Vanani has raised alarm. In a strongly worded letter, he questioned the means by which the party is securing power, saying people should not feel cheated after three decades of loyalty. His statement strikes at the heart of BJP's current political strategy in Gujarat. In a scathing seven-page letter titled 'The Very Formula That Led to Congress's Downfall Now Threatens the BJP Too,' Nanubhai Vanani delivers a blistering critique of his own party, warning that the BJP is treading the same self-destructive path once taken by the Congress. Senior BJP leader and former Education Minister Nanubhai Vanani has accused his own party of abandoning its ideological core in blind pursuit of power. 'The entire culture of the Bharatiya Janata Party has changed,' Vanani wrote, warning that the party is now driven by a ruthless mantra: "Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikandar." But, he asks, 'Where have these Sikandars come from? What's their ideology, what's their morality—does anyone even care anymore?' Vanani claims that the BJP is recruiting leaders with no connection to its values, thereby eroding its foundational ideology. 'This reckless induction is not just weakening us—it's destroying the very spirit that built this party,' he warned. He added that the BJP's growing tilt toward power-centric ideology is not only dangerous but suicidal. 'Power means nothing if it's gained by dumping principles. True power lies in winning with principles at the core,' he emphasized.

First Post

34 minutes ago

• First Post

US-Pakistan bonhomie: Why India should not be surprised

It's no surprise that Pakistan may once again become a frontline state in US strategy for the South and West Asian region — and America's ties with India could suffer collateral damage read more Should India be surprised by the latest turn in US-Pakistan relations under the Trump 2.0 administration? Analysts of Indo-US relations have often characterised this relationship as the one with 'ups and downs' or 'peaks and valleys', particularly during four decades of the Cold War. But US-Pakistan relations have witnessed more extensive fluctuations in history, and that pattern continues until today. Pakistan is yet to learn lessons from the extreme oscillations of its ties with the United States, and currently Islamabad seems excessively jubilant over the latest turn in its ties with the Trump White House. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD President Donald Trump, who had accused Pakistan of offering nothing but 'lies and deceits', is all praise for the Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir. He truly honoured a terror-sponsoring field marshal by hosting lunch for him in the White House—a rare gesture in US history—and thanked him for ending Pakistan's war against India that could have gone nuclear. There is recorded evidence that it was the Pakistani Army's DGMO who called India's DGMO requesting 'ceasefire'. Field Marshal Munir has openly expressed President Trump's intervention in ending the armed conflict and even suggested that Trump should be awarded the coveted Nobel Peace Prize. What he has not revealed is Pakistan's SOS call to Washington to push for a ceasefire with India after the Indian military not only destroyed several terror camps in Pakistan but also severely damaged Pakistani military bases. When advised by Washington to speak to the Indian side and ask for a ceasefire, Pakistan's DGMO did that. President Trump is right that he played a role in the India-Pakistan ceasefire, but that role was confined to giving sane advice to Islamabad to seek a ceasefire agreement. India thus is right as well in repeatedly asserting that the ceasefire agreement was the outcome of conversations between the DGMOs of the two countries and it was not because of any mediation by Washington. The whole irony of the Trump-Munir luncheon meeting lies in the fact that it took place so soon after the Pahalgam attacks by Pakistan-sponsored terrorists that forced India to punish the terrorists and their sponsors. It was wise on the part of President Trump to advise Pakistan to seek a ceasefire agreement with India, but it was ill-advised on his part to sing praise of Pakistan's contribution to counterterrorism efforts. First, the CENTCOM head General Michael Kurilla described Pakistan as a 'phenomenal' counterterrorism partner in his Congressional testimony. Now the president of the US bestows all praise on the Pakistani field marshal. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Washington is well aware of Pakistani duplicity in counterterrorism operations undertaken by the US in Afghanistan. How Pakistan under General Pervez Musharraf was taking billions of dollars of economic and military assistance from the United States and diverting some of the wealth to strengthen the anti-Western Haqqani network in Afghanistan is not unknown to the policy community in the US. How a Pakistani nuclear scientist once visited Al Qaeda supremo Osama bin Laden in the caves of Afghanistan is also not a secret. Nor is the place where Osama bin Laden was hiding, and the Obama administration captured him without informing Islamabad and by violating Pakistani sovereignty, also known to the world. That even a few American citizens were killed in the Pakistan-sponsored terrorist attack on the Taj Hotel in Mumbai could not have been an unfamiliar event to the Trump advisors. Why is there then this renewed praise for Pakistan's contribution to counterterrorism so soon after the Pakistani hand in the brutal and inhuman terror attacks in Pahalgam? It is because the Trump administration may need Pakistan's endorsement for probable US military intervention in Iran. Pakistan's memory of its engagements with the US is too short. It willingly joined the US-backed regional collective security groupings, such as CENTO and SEATO, and soon found that these two alliances were of no use in its anti-India misadventures in 1965 or 1971. Pakistan played the key role of being a conduit for America in its anti-Soviet proxy war for 10 years in Afghanistan, from 1979 to 1989, only to be abandoned after the Soviet withdrawal of troops in 1989. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Pakistan expected the US to quietly look the other way at its clandestine nuclear activities for serving so well the US interests in Afghanistan in the 1980s. But Washington imposed the Pressler Amendment and cut off all assistance to Pakistan after the end of Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan. Pakistan went to the extent of offering its troops for US operations during the Kuwaiti crisis of 1990-1991 with the hope that Washington would show leniency on nuclear issues. But it failed in its attempt. The US used Pakistan as a frontline state as long as its troops remained in Afghanistan until their full withdrawal by the Biden administration. But after the return of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Pakistan's strategic relevance ended, and it was almost abandoned by the US. President Joe Biden described Pakistan as the 'most dangerous' country in the world. Pakistan has learnt no lesson, and yet again it seems to be offering its help for any probable military operations in Iran by the Trump administration. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD It is clear that the Iran-Israel war figured prominently in the conversation between Pakistan's strongman and President Trump. In Trump's views, Pakistan knows a lot about Iran. Pakistan's knowledge about Iran could be useful to any future American intervention in Iran. After all, Pakistan shares about 900 km of border with Iran. Pakistan would prefer to have a monopoly over the 'Islamic Bomb', and that would be possible if Iran's ability to go nuclear is erased. In the game of periodic mutual love and hate, friend and foe, and embrace and divorce equations between Pakistan and the United States, India faces the collateral damage, and it should take timely steps to safeguard its national security. There is thus no surprise that Pakistan may yet again become a frontline state for the US strategy in the South and West Asian region. The author is founding chairperson, Kalinga Institute of Indo-Pacific Studies, and editor, India Quarterly. The views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost's views. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD