Chennai: Top brass at the city police have decided to review the case of the drowning on Saturday of a 12-year-old boy at the Queensland amusement park, near Poonamalee, after the family lodged a complaint about its failure to provide safety to visitors.“The case is being reviewed by a team of officials, including the city police commissioner. A final decision on the case has not been taken yet,” sources said on Monday.
E. Prabhakaran, a student of Class 6 at Sri Lakshmi Higher Secondary School, in Tiruvallur, who drowned, was part of a school excursion team that was visiting the amusement park. He lived in Manavalan Nagar in Tiruvallur and his father, Eswaran, works in a logistics firm in Guindy. Initial investigations revealed that the boy who was sliding in the water got stuck in a net that had been fixed to separate the landing area according to the category of user, and subsequently drowned. The contradictions between the versions from the family and the local police compelled senior police officials at the city police headquarters to review the case in detail, sources said.
While the Nazratpet police station inspector had claimed it was a simple case of drowning and registered the case as an unnatural death, some of his seniors said that the boy had a history of seizures, which the family members strongly denied. “Immediately after the incident, the police were trying to push the case as an episode of epilepsy. But that is wrong. Our kid never had any such history of illness,” said a boy’s kin.
None to keep tabs on amusement parks
Over the last decade, a total of six persons have lost their lives in amusement parks in the state and yet, there are no regulations set by the government and no licences required for operating them, allowing individual managements to throw public safety to the winds.
Of the six fatal accidents in amusement parks across the city since 2006, five have been due to drowning, which in itself calls for introspection, says a member of the Indian Association of Amusement Parks and Industries (IAAPI), an apex body representing such parks in India. In Prabhakaran’s case, the park management and the police were quick to present the boy’s alleged health history, epileptic seizures being the reason for his demise.
However, the fact remains that as of now, there is no independent body to regulate and monitor safety. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the national standards body, has also only set guidelines for the functioning of amusement parks. Their code of recommended practice for safety in water parks acknowledges that water rides were risky. “In the recent past, some incidents have resulted in loss of life as enjoyment in water is risky and requires special attention,” reads an excerpt from the foreword. It goes on, “It is hoped that the organisers, manufacturers of equipment and accessories relating to water parks would make use of this code to ensure overall safety of human beings and equipments at such places.” These codes were introduced in 2004. Since then, five fatal accidents were reported in amusement parks in Chennai alone.
“The role of the BIS is restricted to providing general guidelines on safety and there is no external audit per se to check them,” says V.G.P Ravidas, former president, IAAPI, and MD, VGP Universal Kingdom. He said that the association members facilitated safety meetings once in three months and the staff were also trained periodically on safety procedures. But, with no external audit, either an international organisation or a government body to check on them, the notion that the park owners were taking patrons for a ride lingers.
