Karwar: “The lives of 16 innocent people could have been saved had the district administration seriously considered the precautionary advice given to it regarding safety measures needed to be taken during the annual Koormagad fair, two years back. Neglecting even the reminders on the issue is one of the main reasons for the boat tragedy which took place off the Karwar coast recently”, complained accountant Sanjay Shanbhag from Karwar.

Shanbhag said that he had asked the district administration in the year 2017 to compulsorily provide life jackets to the devotees going to Koormagad for the fair. He said that he had also asked to check the ferrying of devotees in boats without authorized permission. But those suggestions were completely neglected. “I am sad that the 16 people could have been saved if my suggestions were taken seriously”, he said.

Speaking to DH, he said that in the year 2017, the Koormagad fair was held on January 12. He along with others had been to the fair and based on the observation and experience in the boat, he wrote a letter to the district administration on January 31, 2017 asking the authorities to initiate safety measures during the fair. Responding to it, the deputy commissioner forwarded 
the letter to the deputy director of the fisheries department on March 4 asking the
officer to take necessary measures.

“The Fisheries Department later informed the deputy commissioner that the fishermen ferry the devotees to the fair free of cost in their boats. The department had also told that necessary safety measures were in place for the fair. However, it failed to provide information on illegal boats ferrying devotees”, Shanbhag lamented.

Shanbhag said that he wrote another letter to the authorities in the year 2018 asking them about the safety measures taken by it and to review the preparation made. Similarly, he reminded the authorities in 2019 also. Letters had also been written to both the then MLA Satish Sail and present MLA Roopali Naik. Reminder letters had also been written between January 8 and 11. 
But the response he got  was that adequate safety measures had been taken. However, it seems that the measures had not been taken in reality and that led in the tragic mishap.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner S S Nakul said that he was not aware of the letter written by Sanjay Shanbhag and the letter must have come to him in a normal course.

“We have learnt a lesson from this mishap. In days to come, strict measures will be taken for making systematic arrangement during every fair or festival held in islands. 
Many aspects such as the role of Coastal Security Police during such events, availability of life jackets, permission to boats and others will be discussed before coming up with some strict directions”, he said.