Binu Soman drowned in the Manimala river during a mock drill organised to assess the disaster management agencies' preparedness.
Manimala river. (Creative Commons)
The Kerala State Human Rights Commission (KSHRC) registered a case on Friday, 30 December, into the tragic death of a man while taking part in a mock drill held in a river in Pathanamthitta and sought a report from the State Disaster Management Authority and the District Collector on the incident.
Binu Soman, 34, who volunteered to participate in the drill organised to assess the disaster management agencies’ preparedness to deal with floods, was seen drowning at Manimala river near Keezhvaipur on Thursday, 29 December.
Though officials rescued and admitted the man to a private medical college hospital in Thiruvalla, he died later on the day.
The commission registered the case based on a complaint lodged by a human rights activist.
The complainant alleged that if the rescue personnel had arrived on time, Soman’s life could have been saved.
The mock drill, without taking any precaution, was a gross violation of human rights and action should be taken against the officials who were responsible for the tragic death of the man, he further said in the complaint.
VK Beena Kumari, a KSHRC member, directed the head of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) and the Pathanamthitta District Collector to submit an explanation report within the next 15 days after examining the circumstances that had led to the tragedy.
The Commission would take further action after receiving the report, she added in a statement.
Mock drills were held at various places in the Pathanamthitta district on Thursday as part of assessing the disaster management team’s preparedness to deal with floods and landslides.
(Disclaimer: Only the headline, subheads, and intro of this report along with the photos may have been reworked by South First. The rest of the content is from a syndicated feed)
May 09, 2024
May 09, 2024
May 09, 2024
May 09, 2024
May 09, 2024
May 09, 2024
