LONAVLA DROWNING INCIDENT: TWO MORE BODIES RECOVERED, ADMIN TO TIGHTEN RESTRICTIONS

A day after five individuals from Pune drowned at a water body near Bhushi at Lonavla, police recovered the remaining two dead bodies on Monday.

Suhas Jagtap, senior police inspector at Lonavla city police, said, “We have recovered two remaining bodies and after post mortem, bodies will be handed over to their families.”

Amid a rise in drowning incidents, the district administration has decided to implement strict restrictions on tourist movement while visiting various destinations

On Monday, after instructions from Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Pune district collector Suhas Diwase, conducted a meeting with all stakeholders to prevent such mishaps in the future.

Diwase said, to avoid overcrowding at water bodies in the district we plan to put more restrictions in place.

“District administration has ordered to initiate the process to mark perimeter at tourist destinations and restrict movement. Also, banners will be put up alerting tourists,” he said. Where such facility is not available local administration can ban entry of tourists.

Pune district administration has decided to allot National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel, State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), local police, ambulance services, live guards, and signage boards at various tourist destinations.

Considering the heavy rush at Lonavla, Pune district administration has decided to declare a ‘no vehicle zone’ at Lonavla so that tourists can use ‘walkways’ in order to reach tourist destinations.

Heavy vehicles will not be allowed here on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Diwse said, “Already there is a ban on entry after 6 pm at tourists’ places in forest department territory. We have ordered to implement it in a strict manner. If any officer is found showing leniency, then strict action will be taken.’

“We have conducted a meeting with all stakeholders including taxi union, auto union, hotel industry representatives, and after discussing a range of issues with them, soon we will issue detailed guidelines considering the local factors,’’ Diwse added.

The district collector also instructed hostlers to maintain records of all visitors visiting their properties.

On Monday, Pune district collector conducted a meeting with police, district administrations, railways, forest and other departments in order to finalise their responsibility and interdepartmental coordination.

Diwase, Pune rural SP Pankaj Deshmukh, Lonavla SDPO Satya Sai Karthik and others visited the Bhushi dam accident spot.

Diwase conducted a review of the rescue operation and instructed to place banners, boards and signages informing people about risky spots in the locality.

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2024-07-02T03:02:32Z dg43tfdfdgfd