The Bombay high court wants the BMC to check if the lifeguard instructor is properly qualified.
The Bombay high court wants the BMC to check if the lifeguard instructor is properly qualified.
The Bombay high court on Thursday directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to check the credentials and qualification of the instructor who had trained 89 lifeguards. The court said that if the qualification of the instructor is in doubt, the lifeguards must be trained again. The order was passed after it was brought to the court’s notice that two different agencies had refused to hire the instructor.
The division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice A.A. Sayed was hearing a public interest petition filed by an NGO, Janhit Manch, after an incident off Murud Janjira beach near Alibaug where 14 students, 10 of them girls, had drowned earlier this year.
The court asked the state to fulfil all the required measures for beach safety like erecting watchtowers, tying nets at the seashore, keeping well-equipped and trained lifeguard on all the beaches and keeping first aid and ambulances ready on the beaches.
Following the court order, lifeguards were deployed on beaches; however, on Thursday, it was brought to the notice of court that the person who had trained the lifeguards appears to not be registered with any agencies providing training for scuba diving since the past few years. A request was made to the court to direct the government to conduct an inquiry about his credentials.
Accepting this request, the court directed the government to conduct an inquiry and find out within a month if the trainer is eligible for the job or not and if government does not find his qualification satisfactory, it should get these lifeguards trained again with a proper trainer.
The bench, in the past, observed that safety measures at beaches might help in preventing cases of drowning.
