Shimla, July 3: Despite orders of the state High Court to the local administration, little has been done for the safety and security of hundreds of tourists visiting the Kangra valley. The roads leading to riverbeds have not been closed, nor is there any safety board displayed near the riverbeds to caution tourists.Tourists visiting Kangra put their lives to risk by entering the riverbeds daily for fun, enjoyment and taking bath.
The state High Court while hearing a PIL two years ago had directed the state government to ensure safety of the tourists visiting the state on priority so that the Mandi incident was not repeated in which 24 students of an engineering college from Andhra Pradesh had lost their lives. The court had also directed to display hoardings along the riverside to caution the tourists.This correspondent visited different rivers adjoining Palampur and Baijnath and saw hundreds of tourists having fun and enjoyment along riversides by putting their lives at risk.
Despite the fact that the monsoon is in full swing in the Kangra valley and rivers can be in spate at any moment because of heavy rain in high hills of the Dhauladhars, tourists are not aware of the situation that such fun and enjoyment can lead to a tragedy at any moment.Talking to this correspondent, Kangra SP Sanjiv Gandhi said he had deployed police constables near different rivers of the district and the police were regularly keeping a watch and cautioning tourists not to enter rivers. He said still there were some points where tourists would manage to enter the riverbeds, but the police were keeping vigil.
Source Tribune India
