‘Don’t venture into rivers in HP’

DHARAMSHALA: Those gushing streams and rivulets of Himachal Pradesh may entice you but beware! Venturing into water may be dangerous, as the water level can rise anytime and catch you off guard.

As the tourist season is on, Kangra police have launched a campaign cautioning tourists against venturing into rivers and streams.

This has come in the wake of several incidents occurring as a result of delinquency on the part of tourists while visiting the hill state.

A large number of drowning incidents are reported in Kangra every season.

“The campaign is aimed at saving the lives of tourists. We don’t intend to stop them from enjoying but tell them to be careful and responsible,” Kangra superintendent of police Sanjeev Gandhi said.

He said that policemen have been deployed at the points along highways, where tourists often stop to unwind and go down the river banks to click photographs and selfies. “These men keep a check on visitors and ask them to stay away from deep water,” Gandhi said.

Weather in the hills is unpredictable, Gandhi said. “While it seems quite pleasant in the foothills, it may have rained on the hills. The rain in the higher reaches, which is unnoticeable from lower parts of the valley, causes the streams to flood suddenly,” he added.

Apart from deployment, Gandhi said that signboards have also been put on the roadsides cautioning visitors against any misadventure. Over a dozen tourists were drowned in Kangra rivulets in summers last year in separate incidents.

Another major tragedy had occurred in June 2014 where 24 engineering students and one tour operator from VNR Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology of Hyderabad were washed away in the Beas River due to the sudden increase in water flow of the river.