Balamuri: Swimming and walking on bank banned

Holding hands with your friends and dear ones and walking on the check dam with Cauvery river water flowing beneath your foot will be a thing of the past as swimming and treading on the dam has been strictly banned from Sunday.

The preventive measures have been taken by the department of police and Cauvery Neeravari Nigam in view of the rising deaths due to drowning in the river due to dangerous whirlpools claiming lives.

Balamuri is one of the popular tourism spot in the taluk and has been attracting hordes of people, especially techies from all over the state. The visitors arrive in large numbers to view the water flowing from the dam which is a visual treat for the urbanites who are used to concrete jungles and artificial fountains.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, Sub inspector Preetham Shreykar said many youth like to walk on the dam and in their newfound enthusiasm even resort to jumping from the dam into the river sometimes injuring themselves badly.  To prevent such incidents and also drowning deaths swimming has been banned at the spot.

However, tourists can still enjoy playing in the river below the check dam as it is not banned for now.

But, if the tourists throw the norms to the wind and more incidents of drowning are reported in future, even getting into the river would be banned, he warned.

According to reports eight persons in 2009, eight in 2010, 11 in 2012 have met their tragic end here.

The police department and Cauvery Neeravari Nigam has considered this seriously and have closed the routes that lead to dangerous spots.

Mixed response

There is a mixed response for the ban among the visitors. A tourist from Bangalore Chaitanyakumar opined that he had walked on the dam several times and banning has come as a disappointment to many nature lovers.

A couple from Hunsur supported the steps taken by the authorities saying that it is being done for safeguarding the precious lives of the people.