HOGENAKKAL: The death of a 36-year-old man by drowning on Saturday has added to the lack of safety measures at the Hogenakkal.
Karthikeyan, a tourist from Dharmapuri said, "The administration must place more guards to protect tourists. Only a few police are placed here restricting people and regulating tourists. Over two months ago, over eight people drowned in 15 days. Every week one or two visitors drown here."
Hogenakkal, one of the most famous tourist spots in Dharmapuri, now faces a rising number of accidental drowning incidents. Both tourists and locals are concerned about the lack of safety here.
On Saturday, a group of six youths were attempting to cross the Cauvery water in a coracle ride. Since one coracle only permits five people for every ride, one of the group members, A Vijayakumar, a 36-year-old tourist from Thiruvennainallur tried to cross by traversing the small hills. However, strong water currents had swept him away into the river and Vijayakumar died by drowning.
Following his death various tourists complained about the lack of safety measures.
Karthikeyan, a tourist from Dharmapuri said, "The administration must place more guards to protect tourists. Only a few police are placed here restricting people and regulating tourists. Over two months ago, over eight people drowned in 15 days. Every week one or two visitors drown here."
Sureshkumar, a coracle operator said, "While coracle operations are mostly regulated. Without proper life jackets, no one is allowed to take the ride. But this is not the case everywhere. There are unregulated coracle operations in some areas in Hogenakkal, one such is the Chinnar area. Here people skip renting life jackets and go on the ride without them which is very dangerous."
Sureshkumar added, "Ignorance of the tourists also plays a role in the frequent deaths. Most tourists who can swim venture into dangerous areas in the water and die. Even when inflow is reduced to alarmingly low levels, Hogenakkal water currents are still treacherous. At present, water levels are at 7,000 cusecs and it is impossible to swim here."
Hogenakkal police said, "Tourists from Dharmapuri are often unruly here. There are warning signs placed throughout the site in five languages. Yet, many ignore the warnings and venture into restricted areas. We are committing our full efforts to keep Hogenakkal safe for visitors."
Revenue officials said, "We have taken necessary precautionary measures within the tourism area." On the trespassing into restricted areas, they said, "The area is surrounded by dense forest. Revenue staff also monitor the situation, but as a vast expanse of the area is dense forest, it is impossible to keep track of all tourists. We will take the necessary steps to avert such accidents."