JAGATSINGHPUR: Three students drowned in the Devi river at Machgaon of Jagatsinghpur in March this year. Last year, six children and two youths met with a watery grave in different areas of the district. This apart, five children were rescued from drowning at Badajingal village under Tirtol police limits.
Considering the number of drowning cases going up year after year, an AYUSH doctor Subha Kumar Dash of Maindipur under Biridi block has been facilitating swimming lessons for children and youths during their summer vacation free of cost. He has been doing so for the last one year.
Helping him in the initiative are two expert swimmers Santanu Kumar Jena and Ashish Kumar Jena who are employed with ODRAF and the local fire station respectively. He has identified a water body at Maindipur under Puran panchayat where the children and youths are being trained by Santanu and Ashish every week. The waterbody is barricaded and the participants are provided life jackets and tubes by Dash for safety.
“Every day we come across reports from across the state where young boys and girls have drowned while playing or bathing in a pond, lake, river or the sea. Jagatsinghpur is no different. Ninety per cent of the victims do not know the basics of swimming and enter the water for the fun of it,” he said.
Dash launched the swimming training programme after schools and colleges were closed for summer vacation in April this year. Around 50 boys and girls of different age groups have undergone training this year so far.
Santanu and Asish, who train them for nearly two hours in the morning before their duty hours begin, said children and youths are always enthusiastic about swimming. “They usually pick up the technique within four to five days,” said Santanu.
Alina Dash, who learnt the basics of swimming at Dash’s camp, said prior to this experience she had never entered any waterbody. “I was always scared at the thought of drowning. But after this camp, I have no fear of swimming,” she said.
Concerned over increasing drowning cases in the region, Ayush doctor Subha Kumar Dash has
taken up the responsibility to train young boys and girls in swimming. He is holding swimming lessons for them during summer vacation, writes Amarnath Parida