Goa bans entry to waterfalls after multiple cases of drownings
Goa chief wildlife warden Umakant on Tuesday prohibited the entry of people inside “all wildlife sanctuaries and waterfalls until further orders”
The forest department of Goa has banned the entry of people to waterfalls within wildlife sanctuaries after two people lost their lives in South Goa on Sunday.
In an order issued on Tuesday evening, chief wildlife warden Umakant prohibited the entry of people inside “all wildlife sanctuaries and waterfalls until further orders” due to “continuous heavy rainfall in the state and high-water current rivers in forest areas”.
On Sunday, 55-year-old Janardhan Sadekar and 28-year-old Shivdutt Naik drowned at the Mainapi waterfall in South Goa’s Sanguem. Sadekar had jumped in to save Naik who was drowning.
Picknickers throng waterfalls in Goa during monsoons. This year, social media was flooded with complaints of overcrowding and misbehaviour at popular waterfalls, prompting requests to the government and forest department to regulate entry into the sanctuaries, especially on weekends.
State forest minister Vishwajit Rane said the department will review the ban after ensuring it has a mechanism in place to regulate the flow of picnickers and tourists to the waterfalls.
So far, five people have lost their lives this monsoon, drowning in various lakes, ponds and quarries that overflow during this season. These deaths include the two from Sunday. On Tuesday, a 16-year-old lost his life after he drowned in an abandoned stone quarry after he and two other friends skipped school to swim there.
Goa has received 1,054.8mm of rainfall this season since June 1, with the bulk of the rainfall being recorded in the month of July.