‘Minimum of 2 rescue boats must for pursuing rowing activities in Sarobar’

kolkata: Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) will make a minimum of two rescue boats mandatory for the three rowing clubs while pursuing any rowing activities in Rabindra Sarobar. The move assumes significance with rowing activities already commencing in the Sarobar in full swing with a state-level tournament scheduled to be held during the last week of March.

“We have held a meeting of the expert committee recently and discussed a draft Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that has been brought out. We will soon compile the final SOP and circulate it among the three clubs within this month. Two rescue boats will be mandatory and at no point of time activities will be allowed with a single one,” a senior official of KMDA, custodian of Rabindra Sarobar said. The official added that the clubs individually should install fog lights at conspicuous locations which will blink in case of emergency and an alert siren which will be clearly audible from any point in the rowing route. The light will blink and the siren will be on if there is any alert related to inclement weather. “National-level competition is scheduled to be held in the Sarobar in the month of June and we want to assure the best of safety and security measures,” the official added.

An ambulance has been kept stationed near the clubs so that immediate interventions for hospitalisation can be made in case of any medical emergency. Two young rowers Souradeep Chatterjee and Pushan Sandukhan, both students of South Point High School had drowned after their boat toppled during a thunderstorm on May 21 last year, following which the safety of the rowers had assumed special emphasis. “We already have two rescue boats and a weather forecast system in place. The blinking light is also there and the SOP that was given to us by Kolkata Police is being followed. We are ready to abide by any further guideline for the safety of the rowers,” Subhasish Dasgupta, president of the West Bengal Rowing Association (WBRA) said.

WBRA happens to be the umbrella association of three clubs- Bengal Rowing Club, Calcutta Rowing Club and Lake Club located on the bank of Rabindra Sarobar.

The expert committee has also proposed raising the heights of the inlet channels that lead to the Lake. “We will be increasing the height by 6 inches which will help in conservation of water. This will mitigate the issue of depleting water level which the Lake is facing presently,” the KMDA official said. The water loss has been attributed to a rain deficit in last year’s monsoon by experts and no rain for nearly six months. However, there has been little rain in the past few days. KMDA has already engaged the workforce for dredging of the Lake.