BENGALURU: Extended weekends are sureshot opportunities for youngsters and the IT crowd of Bengaluru to head out on fun trips. Unfortunately, many a times, such outings have turned tragic due to ignorance about wildlife and its habitat.Among the popular destinations are Cauvery Sangama (confluence of Akravathy and Cauvery rivers at Mekedatu), Muththathi, Gokarna and Marukottai in Karnataka and Hogenakkal in Tamil Nadu. For trekking, the most popular destinations are Kumaraparvatha in Dakshina Kannada and Mullayanagiri and Bababudangiri in Chikkamagaluru.
Though many technology companies send out regular emails to their employees to take precautionary measures about unsafe water zones in the tourist zones, nothing much has changed. There have been numerous instances of such tragedies. In September 2016, Bengaluru-based software engineer Puneeth J Jayaram (26) drowned off Kudle beach near Gokarna when he was dragged in by the currents in the sea .
On Republic Day, six colleagues went to Sangama Lake on Kanakapura Road but their joy ended soon after two of them drowned. Anand, a resident of Magadi, and Hemanth of Nagamangala, both aged about 23 were employees of Silicon Electronics in Sunkadakatte and both of them drowned.
Trekking expeditions have also turned disastrous due to negligence and lack of awareness. In 2014, Srikant Balaji (24), of Infosys in Chennai, entered Western Ghats forest without permission from the Forest Department. Just two hours after the start of the trek, he went missing and it took four days to trace him.
In 2012, Satwik Shastry (24), an engineer, went to Bannerghatta National Park. After two days, he was found to have been trampled by elephants.