As rigorous rescue and relief operations continue to help the people stranded in flood-hit areas, state Public Works Minister G. Sudhakaran said he has issued directions to seize all the boats for rescue operations and arrest those who refuse to lend their boats.

Kerala government has now started acting against boat owners who refuse to cooperate in the rescue and relief operations. Zakariya, owner of ‘Lake Lagoons’, was arrested by police at Alappuzha for not giving his boats.

Alappuzha district collector has so far seized 33 boats on Saturday since morning under Disaster Management Act.

Sudhakaran had directed to seize all the boats in the Vembanad lake for relief works in Kuttanad region here for conducting rescue operations and arrest the boat owners who refuse to cooperate with the rescue efforts.

Sudhakaran, who represents the Ambalappuzha assembly seat for CPI(M), said he has authorized district collectors to arrest boat owners who refuse to cooperate with the rescue efforts.

“I have ordered district collectors to arrest those boat owners who refuse to give their boats and seize their boats for rescue and relief operations,” Sudhakaran wrote on Facebook.

“Government will cancel the license of boatmen who stay away from the rescue and relief works in this dire situation,” Sudhakaran said, adding the administration will withdraw permission of the boat owners to park in government-owned water bodies.

As Navy is running short of boats, those used for fishing and for transport at backwaters are also being used for rescue operations in the flood-hit areas.

Kerala has been reeling under a murderous monsoon, which has already claimed 324 lives so far. All three services, Navy, Air Force and Army have been deployed in Kerala for the rescue operations along with National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), which has deployed 58 teams.