The Odisha High Court on Tuesday asked the State Government to file an affidavit within two weeks stating as to how many boats are registered in the State to ferry passengers in water bodies and what steps are being taken to regularly check the fitness of these boats as per the Odisha Boat Rule 2004.
The court order came when a Division Bench of Justices Indrajit Mohanti and Biswanath Mohapatra was adjudicating a PIl pertaining to last month’s boat tragedy in the Hirakud Dam reservoir in which 31 lives were lost.
The HC had suo motu taken cognizance of the tragedy and issued notices to the Government after entertaining the case as a PIl.
Responding to the HC notices, the Secretaries of Revenue, Home and Water Resources Departments had earlier filed affidavits detailing about the Hirakud tragedy, and sources said the High Court has accepted those reports.
The tragedy occurred when a picnic party was returning home by a motorised boat in the reservoir.The boat carrying nearly 150 passengers capsised and 31 persons, including women and children, drowned.