Youths drown in Gomti: Lucknow police admits to lack of safety gear and training

The drowning of four people in the Gomti on Wednesday evening during immersion of Ganesh idol has exposed the ill-preparedness of the authorities to ensure security of devotees on such occasions.

Locals alleged that only two home guards were deployed at the spot and, they too, were at a distance from the river bank.

They also said that it took the police over two hours to reach the spot after being informed.

The incident, which took place ahead of the Durga Puja celebrations next month when over a hundred idols of the goddess are immersed in the Gomti, has raised serious concerns over the security of devotees.

The apathy of security agencies can be gauged from the fact that only two constables had been deployed at the immersion site to manage the crowd of at least 2,000 people.

Senior superintendent of police (SSP), Lucknow, Kalanidhi Naithani said, “The police did whatever they could to search for people who had drowned but our efforts were limited due to the lack of sufficient safety gear and training to save people from drowning.”

The police had to seek the support of local unit of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) that deployed two teams of divers only around midnight whereas the tragedy had taken place at 5.30 pm -- over six hours after the incident.

But by then, most residents had already lost hope of survival of the four missing men.

According to residents of Khadra locality, they took out a procession for idol immersion at around 4.30 pm on Wednesday. “We carried the idol to the river and a group of people volunteered to immerse it in the Gomti water,” said Trilochan Nishad, one of the organisers.

He said the immersion occurred at around 5.30 pm and soon after some people started shouting that some of the devotees had drowned in the river.

“Despite the alert, people didn’t know as to who had drowned and where. It took us a while to identify the missing people. We decided to alert the authorities,” Trilochan said.

The locals informed two home guards deployed at the spot after which police were informed.

The locals managed to fish out the body of Vishal Nishad (18) after the incident while the bodies of Raja Nishad (22), Narendra Nishad (19) and Rahul Nishad (21) were recovered on Thursday after a 15-hour joint search operation carried out by the Lucknow police and NDRF.

To continue the search late in the evening, the police teams switched on the lights of their vehicles. Generators and flood lights were also arranged by 9 pm.

Jitendra Nishad, brother of one of the victims Narendra Nishad, said, “Local fishermen who had earlier tried to dive into the river to rescue the victims refused to continue after sunset.”

Youngest among four siblings, Narendra was enrolled in class 11 at a local school.

His mother Maya Nishad said: “He had asked me to prepare ‘pooris’ for dinner. I was readying his plate when the locals informed me about his death.”

Reema Nishad, mother of another victim Raja, said: “My son was an innocent soul. He did not deserve to die in such a manner.” Reema’s husband had died of illness a year ago.

In another lane, the mother of Vishal, lamented: “If our children will die while praying to god, who should we consider is with us.”

‘No arrangements at immersion ground’

According to locals, idol immersions were being done at the same spot for over a decade but no arrangements were made by the administration apart from deploying two home guards.

As per the guidelines of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), idol immersions should be monitored by the local administration.

The administration should dig pits near the river bank and motivate people to immerse idols there.

No such facility, including lighting arrangements, was in place during Wednesday’s immersion.

First Published: Sep 21, 2018 13:12 IST