Commuters as well as water transport department employees travel on boats and ferries in Guwahati without life jackets, which was made mandatory by the Assam government.

Issuing a notice on May 27, the government made the use of life jackets, lifebuoys and rafts mandatory on all ferries and boats to avoid mishaps.

The number of life jackets on a boat or ferry should correspond to the number of passengers and crew and it has strictly mentioned in the notice that all the passengers must be made to wear life jackets during the journey.

“At the start of every trip, the master operator or other crew members should give safety briefing to the passengers. This should be strictly followed in all IWT ferries,” said the government notice.

An IWT official said, “There is lack of awareness among the people regarding life jackets and other safety measures. They are not ready to wear life jackets. They feel uncomfortable to wear life jackets. We must build up a mechanism where a passenger without a life jacket may be held back and penalised.”

“We are going to conduct awareness programmes and other measures to sensitise the people about importance of the life jackets during journey,” the official added.

On pointing out that department employees also do not wear life jackets, the official did not comment.

The IWT directorate had obtained 4,350 life jackets and 2,175 lifebuoys from the Assam State Disaster Management Authority for the 108 wooden and steel vessels across Assam.

There are more than 1,000 private boats and ferries that ply in the state.

Last year, Assam had witnessed boat mishaps on September 5 where several people died.

After the incident, the state government formed a committee which suggested compulsory use of life jackets, lifebuoys among others by the passengers and crew on board the boat or ferry throughout the state.

In Guwahati, people of north Guwahati rely upon the ferries since public transport is not easily available here.

More than 2,000 commuters avail the ferry services daily.