Preventive Measures for Incidents like Death of Children in Vadodara Harani Lake Boat Tragedy

- Lokabhimukha Guidance-- H.S. Patel IAS (Retd.)

- Government to enact regulatory laws for public safety

Recently, 12 innocent children and two teachers died when a boat capsized in a lake near the Harani Motnath temple in the Vadodara Municipal Corporation area. I am most distressed about this incident because I have served as Deputy Municipal Commissioner and Municipal Commissioner for a long time in Vadodara Municipality. And as part of the conservation of the water bodies around the Motnath Harani Lake and Harnigam Lake, we removed the massive pressures and opened the closed water course of these two lakes, the lake is naturally full of water all year round and is also home to birds. There is a smell. Vadodara is the only city in the state to have as many as thirteen large water bodies. And in Sir Sayajirao's period all these lakes were interlinked together and finally Sursagar in the center of the city was filled with water and then the water was channeled from Badamadi Bagh through the palace compound through the open canal to Vishwamitri river and so Sir Sayajirao who lived in Lakshmi Palace realized that after the city's lakes were filled the flood situation Construction is underway. These lakes still exist today. But internal connection is not functional.

The above background is necessary to understand the analysis of the entire incident. First of all, the Gozari incident which happened in Harani Lake falls under the responsibility of the Municipal Corporation for its regulation and administration as the lake falls within the Vadodara Municipal Corporation area. For the beautification and proper maintenance of this lake, when Amo was the Municipal Commissioner of Vadodara, a proposal was prepared in terms of development, after which the corporation took action on the basis of PPP (Public Private Partnership) for a long term, and the information was given to the monopoly Kotia agency. The most important thing is that in such a project, Detailed Scope of Work – List of Activities must be properly defined. Assume that if the Recreational Activities include Fun Parkle Rides and Boating, the agency should have clear experience in this field and safety standards etc., besides, the main agency had the powers to sub-contract or sub-let the monopoly granted? And if granted prior approval of the Corporation and subject to periodical Inspection and Certification from concerned agencies with conditions of maintaining Structural Stability safety standards from time to time. In case of the Harani lake accident, the boating monopoly was given to the person who was given the boating monopoly, if the municipality allowed this activity, the norms and safety rules were fixed? Why, in the boat in which the students/children were seated in Over Capacity as many as 34, while there was a Capacity of 14 in front of it. That is, more than the Boatle Carrying Capacity, so that 12 children and 2 teachers died unnaturally when the boat sank due to imbalance. Therefore, this incident has become a man-made accident. Earlier, in 1993, there was a boat accident in Sursagar in Vadodara and about 22 people died. Apart from this, the number of deaths due to sinking of small boats in the state is high. Thus, after such incidents, there is a flood of emotions for some time and investigations are conducted, there will be reports of such incidents and crimes like criminal negligence and culpable homicide are registered as part of criminal proceedings, SIT Special Investigation Team is appointed, causes of accidental death under CrPC In this case, a magisterial inquiry has been handed over to District Magistrate Vadodara, only time will tell what punitive action is taken against the culprits in this case.

In order to prevent incidents like the said man-made boat mishaps from happening, the state government has given the Uniform SOP like Fire Safety Regulation as a legal form after the instructions of the High Court/Supreme Court with the responsibility of the local administration. It is necessary to prepare criteria. E.g. Boating, different rides in Fun Park / Water Resort all these things are currently set up and operationalized by the developer. At one stage, if there is mechanical / electrical operation, then apart from the ride, there are also standards regarding the trained staff to run the boat or operate the boat. are not E.g. In the case of Harani Boat, the operator of the boat was driving the lorry, similarly many parks have Toy Trains / Rides, so it is not clear who gives the prescribed permission / certificate for the rail belt engine for the train, the Indian Railways is the authority in this field, but for such a Toy Train, that permission or does not issue a certificate so it is necessary to determine the prescribed authority. It is necessary to formulate a comprehensive regulatory law by the State Government through the Disaster Management Authority and before enacting this law, it is necessary to consult with the Expert Group and Practitioner related departments and give a legal form to the SOP Standard Operating Procedure and keep a permanent Monitoring Mechanism. Only then can recurrence of man-made incidents like Harani Bot be prevented. In the changing times, Mechanical / Electrical Operations have increased in Anand Pramod equipment so that there is an urgent need to frame its regulatory legislation. The State Government shall without delay enact a comprehensive law keeping in mind the public safety and the general interest of the people.