BARPETA: In a very sad incident, a man drowned in the river while celebrating Chhath Puja. The accident happened in the Barpeta district of Assam on Sunday.
According to reports, the man had come to the Manah river to celebrate the religious occasion with his family. He had got into the water to perform rituals when he was swept away by the currents. The dead body was later recovered by the personnel of the State Disaster Response Force deployed in the district.
The deceased has been identified as one Basudev Ghosh. He hailed from the Shakti Nagar region of the Barpeta district of the state of Assam.
Death by drowning is nothing rare during Chhath Puja celebrations. In search of a good sport for doing the rituals, people have often been swept off by the current in different parts of the country. And the Manah river is known to have very high speed water currents.
The state government has taken several safety measures to prevent any such accidents. Rope lining is done by competent local authorities so that people do not venture too deep into the river. Also rescue personnel including those from the National Disaster Response Force as well as the State Disaster Response Force are kept on high alert on the day of puja at a large number of ghats across the state.
But non compliance with the safety regulations issued by the government and venturing outside of the safe areas remain a major problem during this celebration. Consumption of alcohol and other narcotics remains to be another major concern often leading to flights and injuries.
Apart from the safety measures implemented at all the major ghats of the city, Guwahati Police had also issued several travel restrictions within the city. These were aimed to prevent overcrowding and traffic congestion at major bottlenecks of the city.
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