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Fatal Baratang Tourism

Boat operators openly violate Administration’s guidelines for safety of
tourists

Staff Correspondent

Port Blair, June 03: Tourism in Baratang Island is taking dangerous
shape, which in long run may prove fatal for visiting tourists. Due to
lack of monitoring mechanism from the side of tourism and police
departments some boat operators are violating safety norms in tourist
boats to earn maximum profit in a short span of time.

It has been learnt that some tourist boat operators are
clearly violating safety norms, prescribed for tourists, and taking
dozens and dozens tourists for limestone caves, in one boat that too
without life jackets or any kind of life saving equipments.

Though according to norms, this is mandatory for each and
every boat operators to provide life jackets for tourists but this
guideline is hardly followed by any of the boat operators.

Moreover, to reap maximum benefit some boat operators at
Baratang are allowing dozens and dozens of tourists in their machanised
boats, which in case of any accident may prove disastrous.

As there is neither police nor any representatives of PRI
to regulate things, boat operators are continuously risking lives of
tourists for earning easy money. Earlier there was a ticket counter for
all these boats at Baratang but the ticket counter has been also
reportedly closed. Now boat operators are charging tourists heavily for
a trip to limestone caves or Parrot Island.

Before tsunami, a separate unit was carved out of from A &
N Police Department and was named Tourist Police, it was said that the
division of police will look after tourism related matter. But, sadly
that tourist police unit has vanished in thin air after 2004 tsunami.

Wherever there is an accident with tourists in Andaman,
local tourism Department and Andaman and Nicobar Administration takes
series of steps for the safety of tourists but within few months, things
again become the same.

In 2006 October, Bhaskar Bhattacharyya, the
Directorate-General of Mines Safety and his son drowned at Radhanagar
beach of Havelock Island due to lack of safety measures. After that a
number of steps were taken for safety of tourists in Andaman by the
Administration and tourism department, including making life jackets
mandatory for tourists in Baratang but sadly after nearly three years of
the accident none of the guidelines are followed by tour operators.
Most importantly the Administration never bothers to regulate these
guidelines for its own reasons.

Perhaps the Administration is waiting for a bigger tragedy
with tourists in Andaman, especially at Baratang area before taking any
concrete steps for the safety of tourists.

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