Tourists growing wary of visiting river ghats

Vijayawada: The people of Vijayawada city have now become wary of the security arrangements after the boat tragedy last Sunday and the security measures have become a hot topic for discussion.

After the construction of ghats at the Krishna River from Ibrahimpatnam to Vijayawada, majority of the citizens prefer to spend their holidays and evenings in the river stretch.

Several ghats were developed as tourism centres during the Krishna pushkaram period and some plans are afoot to develop Krishna River beds beautifully for attracting tourists However, with the boat accident which took place at Pavitrasangamam in Ibrahimpatnam which is nearly 20 km away from the city, fears among the citizens to move freely at Krishna River ghats rose while they demanded the government to tighten the security measures by taking it as a bitter lesson.

The ghats at Punnami ghat, Durga ghat, Bhavani ghat and Pavitra Sangamam ghat are visibly empty with no visitors since Sunday after the boat tragedy. On earlier occasions, several people were drowned at Sitanagaram which is the entry point from Guntur district to Prakasam barrage in the past. Similarly, some of them lost their lives in various isolated incidents by getting trapped in the whirlpools after venturing into the river.

The government did not take the incidents seriously except making a formal announcement by the irrigation department mentioning accident prone areas. Speaking to The Hans India here on Thursday, former irrigation department official Donepudi Madhusudhana Rao said that he has been observing the visitors to Prakasam barrage for the last three decades.

He said the State government should conduct a study with irrigation and tourism department officials on security arrangements. Furthermore, swimmers, life jackets, rescue teams should be deployed at some points at Krishna river ghats, he added.