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One visitor was lost while travelling within Chilka Lake, as he fell from boat and still the time he was not traced. He was from some other state and perhaps he had very little knowledge about this big lake. This news spreads like lightening and thus the related government departments had been searching that lost visitor with night light. Police, fire department, and special search squads are searching for the lost visitor in night light .Still the time this article written the visitor is yet to be traced. According to news paper reports, Sharad Gupta from Chhattisgarh came to Chilka along with four of his friends, on Wednesday. They hired boat from Dolphin Motor Boat Association and their boat number is 33, and then they went into Chilka.
They travelled in to various places inside CHilka Lake with boat and then at four PM, they went to Brahmapura and Mahisha village to watch Dolphins there. While watching and enjoying the sight of dolphins, at that moment Sharad Gupta from Chhattisgarh was standing at the front side of the boat, and suddenly he fell down from there to water, Naturally the place where the dolphin leaves is deep in water and for this he was drowned into water .The boat driver searched for him for sometime and could not find him and then he returned to his base at Satapada. Then, he informed boat association about this tragic incident at Dolphin area and then the boat association informed nearest police station at Brahmagiri.
Then, immediately Brahmagiri police and fire station workers reached at the tragic incident spot, and then they searched for Sharad Gupta there. The current in the afternoon came up in the water and in seeing this the villagers and the members of boat associations searched for him but they came empty handed. In the last few months, in similar incidents two more visitors also died by falling from the boats. This incident occurred for the third time so it is inevitable for the visitors to watch it for safety standards and also do not seat near the extreme sides of boats and it is always preferable to hire for closed boats so that these would be great for safety standards and safeguards of individuals.
According to boat association, it seemed that boats had been taking more visitors than it is primarily stipulated with. Perhaps, they are not observing minimum safety standards while running the boats in deep Chilka water. There is the minimum standard set in for each boat to carry persons to deep lake , and that number is ten , but due to lack of availability of boats and also many a times with the perseverance of visitors , the boat drivers used to take more than ten persons in boats. Due to these facts , boats became overloaded with people and thus similar tragic incidents happened time and again and as per reports this incident is third in number in few months and this is really the warning that all stake holders should seriously consider of.
There are evidences that some boats are not up to date and some even are in very wretched conditions and of some boats they have no; licenses but still they are running these boats inside Chilka and these may be the reason for mishaps and these could be the real sign of trends that could be in the coming days and it is always better to be safe than never. Many a times visitors are not listening to boat driver’s warning, they stand inside the boat and for this the boat vacillates severely in water and they lost the balance and if they were standing near the side of boats then there is every possibilities of that person could be drowned to water or alternatively the boat can be caps sized. So, it is time for authorities to amend these trends and look into more safety of visitors, there are orders for the visitors safety but many a times there are instances that these were not being taken seriously by them.
According to reports from Dharitri on January 04, page 10, while drowning into the sea the visitors was shouting to save him from water, but sadly the boat driver deliberately not listened to his shout, and brought the boat in speed from that area where Sharat was drowning. Alok Jain, friend of Sharat, said that they requested the boat driver and even requested him by holding his leg, but to their utter surprise the boat driver did not hinder to their words and instead run the boat speedily from that place.
This was the reason as they said for their friend’s accident and it was due to that boat driver as their friend could have been saved at that place. Due to gross negligence on the part of boar driver, Sharat died as they said. While telling about this incident Alok could not stop his tears and he said their greatest mistake was to come to Chilka where they lost their friend. Sharat, the person who died drowned in Chilka lake water was married to Manju last December 17. After marriage they travelled to Puri and then to Chilka and then this incident happened and they were pretty saddened by these incident and further they were sadder as they felt their friend could have been saved there, but due to gross negligence of bat driver they could not save him.
While at the boat, Sharat was talking with boat driver and suddenly boat driver turned the boat to other side and increase the speed of the boat and while watching dolphins Sharat could not sense the direction and fell into water from there, and then he shouted loudly to save him, but the boat driver did not listen to his shout, other members shouted and called the other members to save him, but boat driver remain deaf ears. Sharat’s newly wed wife Manju now been sever stress. Sharat’s sister Suman was crying and in hearing this incident his family from Bilashpur came running with an ambulance and they reached Satapada on Thursday .Police, locals and fire station people had been searching for him relentlessly, and they had been to various villages searching for Sharat and they are like mad people searching for him day in day out but still now his body has not been found. According to police the deaf eared boat workers is still absconding, and after this incident visitors are angry with boat drivers.
Now , the essential question arises , should these kind of insensitive boat drivers , who did not care for basic human life , they care for only money , should they be allowed to drive the boats with visitors ? Visitors should in a way ban the boat drivers and they should not go deep inside and should not go with boats and if they actively and consciously boycott these boat drivers then in the long run , the boat drivers will lose their business and then they will know the value of life and how deeply hurt Sharat’s family is and how the life of newly wed Sharat’s wife , Manju was ruined by a deaf eared boat driver who could have saved Sharat and could have become an example of courage and could have won the bravery award of Republic day , but it seemed that he chose the other way , it is time to seriously think about safety of visitors and only then the true motive of worshipping the guests in yours own territory comes handy at you.
In the latest development, the district collector had ordered to Satapada , that every boat must be registered within five days , and he had ordered to water department officials. The administration had taken the visitor drowning issue seriously and the way the boat driver behaved posed some serious questions and for this the administration wants all the boats that were running in these areas to be registered. Administration also deeply hurt after hearing the news that many unregistered bots also been at Chilka , it was seen that out of total 740 boats , only 20 boats have registration , and the collector also said that after five days if there is any boat that is not registered then they will siege such boats . Visitors will not be allowed to take unregistered boats in to sea, even if there is dearth of boats at that point of time, collector also ordered the police to look into boat associations and if they are spelling troubles to visitors then police will take action against them.
On the last Wednesday, one visitor dropped from boat inside Chilka and drowned in side water, and his body was not found, massive search was on and on 4th January his body was found. Sharat’s sister complained to police against boat driver. Sharat with his newly wed wife, his sister and with his friend had come to visit Puri and then Chilka . From Satapada Dolphin motor boat association, he heired a boat no.33 and then he went into Chilka from there. While returning at 4 PM, near Mahisha village, he was watching Dolphin and at that time he was talking with boat driver about dolphins and that time boat was moving slowly. Suddenly the boat driver increases the speed of the boat and at this sudden acceleration; Sharat could not control the balance and dropped to water from boat. He was shouting to save him but the boat driver did not heed to his request and took back boat with high speed and reached at Satapada and then became absconding. Only on Friday, people saw the dead body of Sharat was floating in water and then they called upon the police there, police took back the body and then send it for autopsy. Till now the boat driver, who could have saved Sharat but surprisingly left that spot is absconding, police is investigating the matter.
