The Century Times

Today morning, I returned back from Nainital. On the way my thoughts went to a minor accident in the Naini Lake of Nainital reported in the leading local newspapers Amar Ujala & Dainik Jagran yesterday. A family of four from Karol Bagh, New Delhi was enjoying boating in the Naini Lake just like other tourists were. Suddenly the water started coming into their boat from its bottom and it started sinking. Initially, the boatsman evacuated some mugs of water but told that it is normal and you need not worry about this! But the boat eventually got drowned!!!

Fortunately all the souls were saved by some army personnels who were coincidently boating nearby. But at the end of it, the boatsman was arrested for being drunk. Both the above quoted media-daily criticized a lot about the boatsman being drunk and made a public opinion against the boatsman! Pity on him! Yeah pity, because I don’t think the boatsman to be the culprit and he played the spoil-sport here. To some degree he was irresponsible. But what is the administration doing to safeguard the interest of the tourist in this state of Uttarakhand whose economy depends much upon tourism? Perhaps they haven’t checked for the fitness of the boats and their water-worthiness are questionable. Old and ill maintained boats are often the cause of such accidents which can be easily avoided with a vigil administration and proper & strict implementation of rules and regulations. Surprisingly, media is also escaping from its responsibilities here by not uncovering the fault of those who are responsible for the whole affair!