Close on the heels of the Indian Railways' gesture, Alappuzha's houseboat owners have pledged their support to the government in its all out war against the coronavirus by agreeing to convert houseboats into isolation wards if the need so rises.
Recently, railway coaches were converted to isolation wards, after the Railways and health experts decided to go for the new arrangement to accommodate the overflow of patients who could not be housed in regular hospitals.
Houseboats had risen to the occasion in the past too, when the state was ravaged by two successive floods. Boat owners had swung into action ferrying medicines and essential items across to those cut away from the mainland.
In view of the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis, the Alappuzha Houseboat Owners' Samithy, represented by members Saneesh Mohan, Anas, Basheer and Laiju has declared its wholehearted cooperation with all health Department measures to stall the spread of the disease. The members have also urged all those around them to go by instructions issued in the interests of public safety and health.
The houseboat sector which had been under severe financial constraints after the floods was just about limping back to moderate earnings, when COVID-19 struck dealing it a bitter blow.
A body blow has been delivered to Alappuzha with all import tourism centres closed down. Thousands who depended on the sector have been rendered jobless. Tourist operators and even the sector believe that even if the lockdown is lifted, things will not be back to normal anytime soon. Even peak tourist seasons like April and May will fail to lift the tourism slump, they say.
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