Guwahati, Sept 12: Assam Police had arrested seven persons including five Inland Waterways Transport (IWT) department employees till Sunday morning. All seven have been arrested under non-bailable changes in connection to the Nimatighat boat capsizing incident on Wednesday last week, in which two persons were killed while one is still missing.
The seven arrested are Dhanbar Das, Jogen Dasz Biju Kumar Das, Jayanta Dutta, Binod Barua and Babul Neog held at Jorhat district in Upper Assam and another, Prashant Pamegam in Majuli police station on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under section 304 of Indian Penal Code that is non bailable.
A criminal case (1933/21) was registered at Jorhat police station after Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who also holds Home portfolio, had on Thursday instructed the police to register the case, so that the people for whose alleged negligence the incident happened are sent behind bars.
Of the arrested, only two — Dhanbar and Prashant — are ferrymen while the rest five are employees of IWT.
The Nimatighat Boat tragedy
A private boat named Maa Kamala, heading towards Majuli with at least 90 passengers — as per tickets — sank on Wednesday evening, after a collision with a government-owned ferry near Nimati Ghat.
Last Saturday, the rescue team of NDRF and SDRF found the bag belonging to lone missing person — Indreshwar Borah, a school teacher — who according to eye witnesses, went down bravely after rescuing his wife and several other passengers.
CM Sarma has announced Rs 10 lakh ex-gratia to the family of the deceased and a government job to the immediate family members.
New directives following the boat tragedy
Following the incident, the demands for the bridge from Jorhat to Majuli has gained momentum again, to which Sarma had said that plans have been charted and works will begin soon.
Meanwhile, a roll-on-roll off-cum-passenger ferry service, also called ‘Ro-Pax’ will be initiated soon and the route will also be dredged for the transport of bigger and safer vessels.
The single engine boats were banned after the incident and CM Sarma had asked the owners to install marine engine on their boats.
