If the Dhanbad district authorities are serious, Bhatinda Falls in Moonidih may stop being a watery grave before the upcoming picnic season.
The tourist magnet, 14km from the coal capital, will be fenced off at an estimated cost of Rs 4 lakh, which has already been sanctioned from the district board's development corpus, to keep overzealous and unsuspecting youths within safe distance of the swirling waters and strong undercurrents.
Dhanbad block development officer Jitendra Kumar Yadav said necessary formalities for the project had been completed. "Barricading work will begin within a fortnight and completed within a month, much ahead of Christmas and New Year when picnickers pour in on the spot. For starters, vulnerable points will be identified through a survey that I will lead," he said.
Pramukh of Dhanbad panchayat samiti Manoj Kumar Mahto, who is the local authority, said barbed wires would be drilled into the rocks and iron links will double safety at peril spots.
The fencing project, which can serve as an eye-opener for Ranchi that is dotted by several unguarded waterfalls, has been spurred by the recent drowning of three students from Jharia. On August 30, Rajiv Ranjan, Rohit Kumar and Raushan Prasad - who were among a group of five Class XII students taking a plunge at Bhatinda - went missing in the dark waters. Their bodies were fished out a day later.
That wasn't the first tragedy at the waterfall though. On October 25, 2014, two BTech students of ISM - Labhansh Sharma of Madhya Pradesh and Arun Kumar Singh of Uttar Pradesh - had slipped off the banks and drowned.
Earlier, on November 13, 2011, two other BTech students of ISM - Gotru Vira Ashok of Vijaywada and Goutam Nandyal of Hyderabad - had met death in a similar way.
Last year's drowning deaths had put the Dhanbad district administration on its toes. But, an allegedly amateur plan to barricade the landmark waterfall didn't leave the drawing board.
This time, besides fencing work, the district mandarins have drawn up a comprehensive plan to develop Bhatinda Falls into an official tourist destination, complete with whitewash of a guesthouse and revamp of the rugged banks for Rs 2 lakh.
