Hyderabad: Life jackets in boats operating at Hussainsagar and at Nagarjunasagar are provided only by the government tourism boats. Private operators do not provide the life jackets, which are mandatory. Even in government operated boats, the life jackets are given out but the boat operators do not insist that passengers wear them. A senior officer stated, “If the tourists are not willing to wear life jackets and remove them, what are we to do? We are making announcements and asking that safety measures must be followed strictly.”
Sunday’s boat tragedy in the Krishna river, in which 22 tourists were killed, has alerted tourism department officials to insist that follow safety measures. The government operates boats from Nagarjunasagar to Srisilam and tourists have been asked to mandatorily wear the life-jackets.There are illegal operators who ply boats near the museum at Nagarjunasagar and it is being advised that people must exercise caution and not opt for these services.
Private operators in this region are small and marginal fishermen who try to encash on the tourist crowd during the winter. They take small ferries for short trips but the waters run deep in those areas. Besides, there are rocks and sand banks which could easily topple a boat. Private operators are also allowed to run services in some lakes across the lake where again there is no insistence that tourists wear life jackets.
