Saturday, September 9, 2006

Killing Fields of Goa


Everywhere you look , you can see Goa being publicized as the best tourist spot, but has anyone ever looked into the safety of these widely reputed beaches ? Has anyone ever noticed that the number of life guards over there are extremely less and life boats over there are bare minimum. Ever noticed the no of drownings happening in those beaches? Of course How do we.. when Goa beaches are being marketed as the best place to be.

Goa is one place where most amount of drownings happen in India and Still am pretty much surprised to see that no one from the tourist govt or from Goa administration has woken up for this cause. Below mentioned are some of the links for the lifeguards in Goa.
http://www.hostelbookers.com/info/news/18011094

http://in.news.yahoo.com/070808/211/6j6s7.html

My 2 friends drowned during a Sunday tragedy at Calangute beach (Goa) on 13th of august 2006. The lifeguards were on strike and there were no warnings about the condition on the beach. 8 persons were swept away by the under currents and some of the locals jumped to save them but could only rescue 2. We begged the authorities on the beach for Costal guards help and for some boats for our friends who were still unable to swim to shore. The Director of Tourism was present and said Costal guards will take 90 minutes and helicopter will come shortly but none turned up the whole night. While our friends were still struggling at sea, the Director instead of doing some immediate action started criticizing us and the public for going to the beach. He was more concerned about public relations and foreign tourist , It seemed he didn't even care for the desi tourists. When we enquired about the Helicopter he retorted back that we don't have the right to raise the voice. This all happened in the backdrop of our friend still seen struggling at the sea. Night turned up and none turned up for the rescue. Our friends would have survived if authorities would have been more pro active instead of criticizing.

How would the tourist know of the dangers especially with no warnings. Is this the way any officer should behave ? At such a place especially when tourists turns up in huge numbers why don't the authorities do immediate action when Life guards go on strike. Is this the way Tourism is promoted? I don't think Goa beaches are a tourist place it should be called the Killing Fields.

We need to ensure such things don't happen in future in our own way. Few points which needs to be noted are
1)Life Guards are like doctors. They can't Just Go on strike like that

2)Notices when issued for public safety are not just meant to be put up for the sake of it but With the true intention of reaching out to the public

3)Also We are talking about human lives over here which can never be brought up. And though painful thing We should have brought up a public litigation against the govt.....