After Jabalpur tragedy, Varanasi Police crack down on unsafe boats on Ganga
3 min readLucknowMay 2, 2026 06:48 PM IST
Boats ferrying passengers on the Ganga in Varanasi. (Express Archive Photo by Vishal Srivastav)Following Thursday’s cruise boat tragedy in Madhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur that left nine people dead, Varanasi Police have stepped up safety measures on the Ganga, launching a special enforcement drive to check violations by boat operators. As part of this, authorities have seized 24 vessels found violating safety norms and registered cases against their operators.Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Atul Anjaan Tripathi said while routine inspections are conducted regularly, the special drive was launched from Friday. “We routinely inspect boats, but after the Jabalpur incident, we began a special campaign on Friday to check all vessels operating in the Ganga,” Tripathi said. “During the inspections, several boats were found violating safety norms. In many cases, passengers were either not wearing life jackets or were wearing them incorrectly.” Cases have been lodged at Kotwali, Bhelupur and Dashashwamedh Ghat police stations under BNS section 282 (rash navigation of vessel), he added. Heavy river traffic, especially during festivals According to officials, around 1,000 boats — traditional hand-rowed ones to motorboats — operate daily on the Ganga while about 25 cruise vessels offer more organised and premium rides. Boat services usually run from 5 am to 9 pm, with trips lasting between 30 minutes and two hours. Another 1,000 boats generally remain unused for most of the year but are brought into service during major religious events such as Makar Sankranti and Kartik Purnima, when the number of visitors rise sharply to 3-4 lakh or more, leading to a significant increase in river traffic to handle the heavy rush.Story continues below this ad On regular days, the city’s ghats see around 50,000 to 60,000 visitors, many of whom opt for boat rides to experience Varanasi’s cultural and religious landscape from the river. New system in the works Boat registration in Varanasi has so far been managed by the municipal corporation. This year, however, officials said the government has decided to shift the process to the Transport Department to improve regulation and management. A new online portal has been created where boat owners must upload vessel details. Officials said licences will be issued only after government-approved surveyors inspect the vessels and confirm that they meet the required safety rules. At present, 1,217 boats are registered with the Varanasi Municipal Corporation. However, the online registration system has not started functioning fully yet.Story continues below this ad On Thursday evening, what started out as a leisure cruise in the Bargi Dam reservoir in Jabalpur quickly turned into a nightmarish situation for those on board, with the boat capsizing and sinking with several people still inside. By Friday, nine bodies had been recovered, and 28 people were rescued. The dead included a four-year-old child. This is the second such tragedy in a space of a month. Last month, 15 pilgrims, mostly from Punjab, died after a motorboat carrying a group of devotees capsized in the Yamuna river in Vrindavan area of Mathura district. According to police, the motorboat was carrying around 27 pilgrims.
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