Lack of safety gear cost pilgrims their life in Vrindavan, says son of deceased

The death of pilgrims in Vrindavan boat tragedy raised serious questions about the lack of safety measures. Kin of the victims blamed the administration of Vrindavan for failing to implement the safety norms for boats in Yamuna.

Nikhil Bansal, son of Meenu Bansal who died in the incident, said he lost his mother as the boat capsized in Yamuna. Even his sister Dinky Bansal was still untraceable.

While raising questions over the absent safety measures, he said when a boat had a capacity of about 20 persons, why 40 pilgrims were made to sit in the boat. Further, the people were not given life jackets to meet at emergency. “Had all pilgrims given lifejackets, their lives could have been saved. Even my mother would have been alive today,” Nikhil said.

He said though his sister was also missing but her name was not mentioned in the list of missing persons released by the Vrindavan administration. He had apprised the administration here about it and urged them to take up the matter with the Vrindavan administration.

Ashwani Bansal, a relative of Meenu Bansal, said he would not entirely hold people operating boats at Yamuna responsible for the tragedy. Instead, pilgrims should also have exercised caution before sitting on the boat where no life jackets were being given.

“Whosoever is responsible, the tragedy had already struck and lost lives cannot be brought back. The need of the hour is to prevent similar tragedies in the future, there should be strict guidelines

in place and no compromise with safety measures,” Ashwani said.