Panaji: North Goa district magistrate Ankit Yadav has ordered a detailed inquiry into the drowning of a 17-year-old student at the Tonir-Kajredhat waterfall in Sanvordem, Sattari, on Friday.In a directive to the deputy conservator of forests, North division, Yadav sought a report within 24 hours after a sub-divisional magistrate’s report revealed that despite warning signboards put up by the local panchayat, there was no barricading, no forest staff deployed at the site, and no signboard at the spot where the incident occurred.The report also flagged that some warning boards had been removed by unknown persons.Terming the matter one of “utmost public importance” given the loss of life, the collector has sought an explanation for the absence of forest department personnel at the waterfall despite it falling under the department’s jurisdiction.Yadav has also demanded an explanation why his own orders issued on July 29 were not implemented. In July, all the district collectors had asked authorities to install signboards at waterfalls and water bodies and install barricades to regulate public entry during the monsoonThe district magistrate has asked the forest department to fix the responsibility for the lapses and initiate action against the officials.The deceased, Rahul Bind, a student of Deep Vihar Higher Secondary School, Vasco, was part of a trekking group of 23 students and four teachers who had travelled to the site by private bus and engaged a private lifeguard who was not from the local area, according to the SDM’s report.The student went missing in the water around noon and his body was recovered roughly three hours later by fire and emergency services and forest personnel from Valpoi.The waterfall falls under the jurisdiction of the range forest officer, Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary, Mollem, and not the Goa Forest Development Corporation, the SDM’s report said.Yadav’s order states that the forest department has to provide records of patrolling by forest staff, and a list of corrective measures to prevent further deaths.
