The State government has decided to continue the houseboat support scheme for one more year, Tourism Minister P.A. Mohamed Riyas has said.
He was replying to a submission by Alappuzha MLA P.P. Chitharanjan in the Assembly on Tuesday.
The State government introduced the scheme, a one-time financial assistance up to ₹1.2 lakh, last year to support the ailing houseboat sector.
Mr. Riyas said the government had so far sanctioned ₹1.60 crore to 261 houseboats under the scheme.
Revolving fund
The Tourism Department would introduce a revolving fund scheme, which would benefit houseboat and shikara boat employees.
The Minister said the government had implemented a tourism working capital scheme, a loan scheme, in association with the State Level Bankers’ Committee.
For employees in the tourism sector, the government has introduced a tourism employment support scheme.
It enabled the employees to raise a loan up to ₹30,000 from the Kerala Bank, the Minister said.
The houseboats and shikaras in Alappuzha, which had remained anchored for three months due to the restrictions imposed to tackle the spread of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, restarted operations last week after the district administration granted permission to resume services under strict conditions.
