Boat clubs face resource crunch as racing season begins

Alappuzha, July 16 (UNI) Even as the hammering on boats echoes all over the Kuttanad area for this season's boat races, several boat clubs are facing shortage of resources.

For the people of Alappuzha, boat races are the high point in the annual calendar. It kicks off the water festival time akin to the harvesting season.

Boat races were thus elevated to the level of local festivals, especially in the Kuttanad area in the southern part of Alappuzha district, from where the maximum number of boat clubs compete every year.

The first in the series of boat races, the 'Champakkulam Moolam' boat race, heralded the racing season on the Pampa river on last Monday. The 'Payippadan Chundan' bagged the crown, followed by the 'Champakkulam Chundan' and 'Sree Ganesh Chundan'.

The next was the prestigious 54th Nehru Trophy boat race, scheduled on August 12 on the Punnamada backwater. An elephant calf was the mascot for this year's contest. The construction of the temporary stadium on the banks of Punnamada backwater would start soon.

All the maintenance houses, where the 'chundan' boats were kept, were busy with workers and the sound of hammering on the boats can be heard far and wide.

But the boat clubs find themselves short of fund and were runing pillar to post to raise money before the race. The 'Nattakom Boat Club' was an example of this crisis and may even pull out from this year's Nehru Trophy.

The members of this club were the rowers of the famous 'Karichal Chundan', which bagged the championship several times. However, no sponsors had come forward to meet the expenses and the balance sheet of the club carried a debt of Rs 20,000.

The 'Ambedkar Chundan' too faces a similar crisis. The boat was built by spending Rs nine lakh. During the last UDF government, Rs six lakh was allocated for maintenance, but the fund was not utilised. Presently, the boat lies in a shed for want of maintenance.

With its central portion broken in 2004, the remaining parts of the boat were being used to dry the uniforms of the policemen at the Pulinkunnu police station.

A boat club needs at least Rs four lakh to participate in a race.

A 'chundan' boat requires 100 rowers with at least another 20 persons kept in reserve. The rowers need to practice for at least ten days.

The boat club should give each rower Rs 200 as daily wage excluding other expenses like food. Usually, sponsors contribute this amount when they take over a boat. But the clubs, which had not yet found any sponsors were finding the going tough.

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