Nagpur: Taking a cue from the Pune tragedy in which five people drowned in the waters of Bhushi dam, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) plans to install barricades around three prominent lakes in the city, Ambazari, Futala and Gorewada, to prevent visitors from venturing into the waters.
As the rush during the monsoon increases there have been reports of people, mostly youth indulging in risky stunts. Taking note of the incident at Bhushi Dam at Lonavala near Pune, the Maharashtra Government has directed state-wide measures for enhanced security. Accordingly, the Municipal Commissioner Dr Abhijit Chaudhary convened a meeting of officials, including Superintending Engineer Shweta Banerjee, officiating Chief Fire Officer B P Chandankhede, and head of Nuisance Detection Squad Virsen Tambe. In the meeting, the Municipal Commissioner ordered barricading the lakes so that no one can venture near the waters.
At Gorewada and also at Ambazari videos have surfaced on social media wherein people were seen taking casual walks on the bridges near intake wells. The matter was discussed threadbare and preventive steps were identified that is to be taken forthwith. This includes putting up boards warning people against venturing near the banks and maintaining safe distance from the water. Commissioner also urged visitors to the lakes not to take any risks as water flow during monsoon is very high and can prove dangerous.
Similarly, NMC is also going to deploy one boat each and at one of the lakes to be manned by trained personnel so that same can come handy to rescue if any one falls into the lake. Also it was decided to deploy personnel of Nuisance Detection Squad (NDS) at each of the lakes to keep an eye on nuisance makers and crackdown on rowdies who take unnecessary risks and create problems for others.
Further Commissioner asked NMC officials to rope in NGOs and take their help for creating awareness among citizens at the lakes to prevent any untoward incident. Monsoon is meant for enjoyment and people should visit the lakes for recreation and spending quality time with family and friends, said Commissioner.
Notably, five individuals, including a woman, were involved in a potential drowning incident near a waterfall by the backwater on Sunday around 3 pm. The incident took place during a picnic, with individuals slipping near the waterfall and falling into the water body.
