WARANGAL: What’s the answer to this scorching heat? Ask any person hailing from a rural background and pat comes the reply — a dip in the water, be it an agriculture well, local tank or a lake. This, however,
is becoming a cause of concern as more and more people, more particularly children and youth, are meeting watery graves. The incidents of death-by-drowning have been going up at an alarming rate.
According to officials, such incidents mostly take place due to the lack of knowledge of swimming. “They know little bit of swimming and think that it is enough to take a dip in a lake or a tank. They just jump into the water without analysing the depth of the lake and drown,” an official stated.
The officials also admitted that taking up safety measures at every lake and tank in the district was not possible as the numbers are very large. “We are already taking up safety measures at all the prominent lakes and water bodies. We can suggest the gram panchayat secretaries and peoples’ representative to educate people about the danger of going for a swim without proper knowledge of swimming. “We have been asking them to be vigilant and see that no one goes near water bodies for fun,” the official informed.
The police were also creating awareness among people, especially children and youth, to not venture into water until someone elder to them is guiding them. Despite these efforts, drowning incidents are being reported on a regular basis. With the summer vacation to start next month, the officials are understood to have decided to take up the issue with staff and police personnel working in rural areas.
Karimnagar stands apart
Interestingly, Karimnagar district has recorded a fall in the cases of drowning in the last two year as no major incident has taken place. The last case of drowning was in September 2016, when two intermediate second-year students accidentally fell into the water and drowned at Lower Manair Dam (LMD) reservoir. Since then, security has been beefed up at the reservoir and after the lake police post was set up there, security has become even more effective. Recently, the police saved three women who tried to commit suicide at LMD.
Mission Kakatiya pits turn deadly
Sangareddy: Negligence of contractors, coupled with the apathy of government officials, has resulted in several death-by-drowning incidents involving youngsters in the erstwhile Medak district. As part of the Mission Kakatiya works, contractors have dug up several pits across the district. Come rains, and these pits are filled with water. Students, unaware of the exact depth, go for a swim in these holes and end up meeting watery graves.
Mahbubnagar district tops the list
Tanks and agricultural wells have become death hubs in the erstwhile Mahbubnagar district with a large number of people either falling into them accidentally or committing suicide. The right and left canals of Jurala irrigation project have become the main site for these accidents. Joint collector Venkat Rao told Express that they had issued advisory to district collector, all tehsildars and gram panchayat officials.