E-Paper
U.P.: Drowning killed more people than other calamities in Prayagraj this year
From Feb 2022 till date, ₹3.28 crore compensation awarded to the kin of 82 victims in the district
The district administration data indicate that river ghats and ponds in Prayagraj are unsafe. Since February this year till date, the highest compensation has been given by the district administration in cases of deaths by drowning. The state government had listed death by drowning as a disaster in June 2021. Death by suicide, however, is not considered for compensation.
In last eight months, 82 people have died in natural calamities, including, lightning strikes, drowning, heavy rain, high intensity storms and even deaths due to snakebites in Prayagraj district, show the district administration data.
“Till now this year, compensation at a rate of ₹4 lakh each amounting to a total of ₹3.28 crore has been awarded in various cases. These include 34 deaths due to drowning, 23 owing to lightning, 15 due to snakebites, eight due to excessive rain and two deaths due to high intensity storms,” said ADM (finance and revenue) Jagdamba Singh. He is also the district nodal officer in charge of all affairs related to natural disasters.
Deaths due to drowning gain importance as Prayagraj is the district where thousands of people from all corners of the country and even abroad visit every day to take a dip in Sangam waters. Barring Sangam-Arail, none of the remaining ghats have adequate security arrangements. There is neither barricading nor signage.
The then divisional commissioner Sanjay Goyal had also met and instructed the officers to make security arrangements in this regard in June 2022, but the situation has failed to improve. Most of the deaths due to natural disasters this year have been due to drowning. Compensation of 1.36 crore has been disbursed to the next of kin of people who lost their lives due to drowning in the past eight months, official records show.
Of these deaths due to drowning, maximum nine have occurred in Sadar and Karachhana areas while eight people have lost their lives in Meja, four in Phulpur and three in Bara. Meja and Handia have been affected by lightning. In Meja, maximum six deaths have happened during this period due to lightning while there have been five deaths in Handia, four each in Bara and Koraon besides one each in Karachhana, Phulpur and Sadar areas.
The state government had listed death by drowning as a disaster in June 2021 making the victim’s family eligible for compensation of ₹4 lakh under the state disaster relief fund (SDRF).
The order issued by additional chief secretary (revenue) Renuka Kumar at the time said in addition to nine situations considered disasters under the SDRF, death by drowning in a well, river, lake, pond, canal, pit and puddle will also be considered a disaster.
The district magistrate of the district concerned where the death takes place is the authority to determine whether the death is an accident or a suicide. In 2018, the government had added four categories of death to the list of disasters. These were snakebite, boat tragedy, death while cleaning sewer or gas leak and man-animal conflict. The categories listed under SDRF before 2018 included death due to unseasonal rain or heavy rainfall, lightning, storm, loo and falling into a borewell.
