Mekedatu danger

5 Deaths in a week - Is it a small number

We would like to bring to your notice the deaths because of drowning
in a place called Mekedatu. You will see the mention of this place in
young peoples’ blog, some who would have not faced the rages of the
river. This is the place where a tragic incident took place and
Kishore our friend was the 5th victim in the same week. Though the
place is beautiful, it has very uneven river-bed, very strong
under-currents and even crocodiles. Despite all these, there are no
warnings or sign-boards that would alarm the visitors about these
risks.
We expect the forest department and the police should have some
responsibility towards such cases, the least being putting a warning
sign.
Death is taken for granted in that place; even to retrieve the body
of our friend the attitude was just another ‘body’ by the police and
the localites. After a day long ordeal we were able to retrieve the
body, but only after shelling-out thousands of rupees (to the
localites and to the so called public-servants). It was
heart-breaking to observe how one man’s grief becomes another man’s
business. We can’t change the attitude of people who face this thing
day in and out. But we certainly have every moral responsibility that
it doesn’t happen to another human being. We have requested to the
forest department to post a warning. Well they said they would
approve if we would fund. Now we are in the process of collecting Rs
80,000 to put a warning sign there as a tribute to our friend. We are
struggling and getting people involved. We should rather be helping
the family with this money and the forest department should be
putting the board. But the mother herself offered hope nobody else
loses their life.