‘Presence of rescue boats could have prevented the tragic drowning of the two rowers’
KOLKATA: The rowing clubs of Rabindra Sarobar have endorsed the views of Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim that the presence of rescue boats could have prevented the tragic drowning of two rowers after their boat was hit by a squall that blew over 90 km per hour on Saturday late afternoon.
Pushan Sadhukhan and Souradeep Chatterjee, two students of South Point High School drowned after their rowing boat capsized.
Hakim, who is also the chairman of KMDA, visited the spot on Saturday evening after the mishap and was vocal against a section of environmentalists who had cried foul over the use of such petrol driven motor boats for rescue operation during rowing activities. “If there were rescue boats or (fellow boats), the tragedy may have been averted. Is human life less important than fishes,” Hakim had said.
Subrata Guha, Secretary of Lake Club said that use of such petrol driven boats have been totally stopped at Rabindra Sarobar since 2016 but were used only during rowing events for the safety of the rowers. “We were compelled to withdraw such boats as per directions of KMDA only a few days after some environmentalists raised an objection that the order of the National Green Tribunal was flouted by use of such boats,” he added.
The club authorities argued that in all lakes across India where rowing activities take place, such motorised petrol boats are used for disaster management. “Moreover, activities or competitions like this take place 10 days in a year and we believe using such boats for such a short duration will not cause harm to the biodiversity,” a club official said.
Responding to allegations made by some parents of the rowers that why the students were allowed to row in the water inspite of the inclement weather conditions, a club member argued, “Usually it takes 30 to 35 minutes for the rowing boats to come back once they venture into the waters. But the nor’wester on Saturday hit within 15 to 20 minutes after the sky became dark and overcast.”
Another rowing club member said that use of any other type of boats would not be able to match the speed of the rowing boats, so effective rescue operation will be a far cry barring such motorised boats.