LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP ‘BMC putting up safety notices on beaches’

Mumbai: The BMC on Monday told the Bombay high court that it has displayed safety notices at beaches across Mumbai. The notices are part of a larger plan for safety of beaches. 

    The civic body was responding to a query from a division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice M S Sanklecha on whether notices were being put up on beaches to alert visitors. The response was sought after non-government organization Janhit Manch's advocate Jamshed Mistry referred to a news report on the drowning of three youths at Aksa beach on Sunday. 
    Mistry told the court that the number of lifeguards on beaches is insufficient. "Manpower and equipment must be strengthened in the light of the larger number of visitors to beaches during the summer vacation,'' said Mistry. He also said that pre-monsoon tides tend to get high and the sea becomes rough, leading to the possibility of such drowning incidents. 
    When the judges questioned the BMC advocate, Sharmila Modle, she replied that the civic body is putting up notice 
boards as a part of its larger safety plan for beaches. 
    The NGO had earlier filed a PIL asking for better equipment, trained lifeguards and medical facilities, among others, to prevent drowning deaths not just at the city's beaches but also across Maharashtra. The case has been posted for hearing in June.