Rides at night unsafe
Speedboat fleet does not have headlights, indicators RISKY SAILING IN HUSSAINSAGAR Boat operator held for techie’s death in the lake
None of the speedboats at TTDC Hussainsagar Water Fleet have headlights or indicators though all of them operate till 9 pm.
There are no specific instructions or boards with safety measures for boat riders at the lake. And though the boat operators give manual instructions, most youngsters refuse to abide by them.
While Hussainsagar officials say that there are no rules barring speedboats at night without lights in India, experts differ. “The safety norms are very poor across India. All boats running at night should have lights and indicators, especially in a closed space like Hussainsagar,” said founder president of Hyderabad Yacht Club Suheim Sheikh.
“Safe routes for boats should also be defined as three kinds of boats run in the lake. The authorities can look up International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea 1972 (Colregs),” he added.
Hussainsagar Water Fleet officials, meanwhile, said that all the drivers were qualified. “All the 19 drivers are trained at Fisheries Training Institute at Machilipatnam, and have licence. Ten drivers have more than five years of driving in this lake,” said K. Upender, manager of the Water Fleet. A day after a 22-yearold IT professional was killed in a boat mishap in Hussainsagar, the police on Sunday arrested the speedboat operator Mr G. Shiva Koti for negligence.
The investigators learnt that the accident was caused due to overspeeding and the rash and negligent driving of Mr Koti. He apparently did not pay heed when the passengers asked him to slow down. The driver claimed that the victim was standing up to take photographs, thus blocking his vision. She did not sit despite being asked to several times, and he could not see the second boat ahead of them, he said during interrogation.
The victim, Bhakthawar Rana, and her friends had boarded the speedboat to go to the Buddha statue. Mr M. Raghavendra Swamy, Sub-Inspector Ramgopalpet, said that on the way back, the drive went too close to a mechanised boat and was about to start going around it when he lost control and crashed.