The Water Initiatives Odisha (WIO) on Thursday blamed the Hirakud Dam authorities for the occurrence of recent boat tragedy in which 31 people died.
“The reservoir lacks basic disaster preparedness. Had there been an ODRAF team with all facilities present in the reservoir at the moment, we are sure many more lives could have been saved,” WIO convenor Ranjan Panda said, adding, “lack of monitoring, inspection and patrolling by the dam authorities added to the problem.”
Panda expressed deep grief over the untimely death of the people on behalf of WIO. “Our heartfelt condolences are with the family members, relatives and friends of the departed souls and we pray before the Almighty to give them the strength to withstand this disaster,” he said in a condolence message.
Panda said the boat was carrying more than 150 people, including some regular commuters and a lot of picnickers, and 20 motorcycles.He demanded that display boards with regard to capacity of boats, their owners and operators and safety measures should be installed in all ferry ghats.
He welcomed the Odisha High Court’s suo motu cognizance of the matter seeking status reports from concerned Government departments within two weeks.Similarly, welcoming the Chief Minister’s announcement for a RDC level inquiry, he said, “Since inquiries have been ordered already, the boatman should be released until proven guilty and take actions on all responsible for the tragedy as per the enquiry reports.” The boatman had rescued many passengers, he informed.He also demanded that the State Government immediately inspect all the ferry boat facilities across the State and ensure safety of the passengers.