Home secretary UN Behera (centre) and Puri police superintendent (right) inspect safety issues of Puri beach on Monday. Picture by Sarat Patra

Bhubaneswar, Nov. 28: The bodies of two engineers who were drowned in the Bay of Bengal on Puri sea beach were traced near Pantha Nivas today. They went missing while taking bath near Digabarikhunti on the beach.

Worried over the rising number of deaths in the sea, home secretary U.N. Behera rushed to Puri and held parleys with the district collector and police superintendent of Puri. Puri collector Aurobinda Agrawalla said: “We will identify some safe bathing zones on the beach. Police patrolling will be intensified in these zones.”

The two engineers, working for a private company in Bhubaneswar, had gone to Puri on Sunday along with 12 other colleagues. The victims were identified as Sonu Gupta, 25, of Chhattisgarh and Hemanta Choudhury, 27, of Maharashtra. The number of cases of drowning has gone up to 24 this year. While 24 drowning deaths occurred in 2008, 19 took place in 2009 and 25 in 2010. The Puri district administration has decided to divide the Puri sea beach into five zones where people will be allowed to bath. Another 20 police personnel will be trained by the Rashtriya Life Saving Society to handle rescue operations. The society will charge Rs 5,000 to train each police personnel.

About 89 nolias (the fishermen engaged for rescue operation) have been deployed on the Puri beach. Today, it was decided that a public address system would be installed in the towers situated on the beach. Signboards will also be put up.

Tourism officer Bijay Chandra Jena said: “We have asked the hoteliers to put up signboards asking tourists to seek the help of nolias while taking bath. They can also use life jackets distributed free on the beach.”

Officials admitted that the stretch of the sea between Konark and Puri has been witnessing high tides ever since a tsunami hit the southeast coast of the country in 2004. High tides had also become a regular affair at Gopalpur.

Jagannath Bastia, president of the Beach Protection Council of Odisha, said despite repeated requests made by them, the state government was yet to take any substantial measures for the protection of tourists coming to Puri.

“About 80 per cent of the beach area is not properly lit. Our demand to provide special uniforms to the nolias engaged in assisting tourists is yet to be conceded,” he added.