Gujarat boat tragedy: FIR lodged against 18 people, cites overcrowding, absence of life jackets

The accused, the FIR states, committed “rash and negligent acts”, causing the death of 12 children and two teachers on a school picnic. It adds that the accused “did not follow safety precautions of providing life jackets to all passengers in the boat, while also overcrowding the boat above its actual capacity, not installing boards with important warnings for those undertaking boat rides and also faltered on the repair and maintenance of the boats as well as in providing safety equipment such as buoys and ropes (to prevent casualties in accidents).”

The boating facility at Harni Lake, called Lake Zone, is run by a private company called Kotia Projects, under a public-private partnership contract with the VMC. The complainant, Executive Engineer of the VMC’s Futuristic Planning Cell, Rajesh Chauhan, stated that M/s Kotia Projects was awarded the work order for operations in 2017 by the VMC, including rides, food court, banquet hall and other amenities.

The FIR states, “We received information that at around 4.30 pm a boat in Harni Lake Zone had overturned as it was overcrowded. On arriving at the spot and examining the incident, and speaking to the teacher Mansi Parmar, we learnt that about 30 persons were seated in the boat and some children were without life jackets. When the boat moved ahead, the boat began wobbling and water began seeping in from the front of the boat. It led to more unsteady movement before the boat overturned completely and all the passengers in the boat were thrown into the water.”

14 students died as boat overturned in Vadodara. (PTI Photo)

The FIR identifies 12 children under 10 years of age and two teachers who were killed in the incident and states that about 15 children were rescued by the locals and emergency response teams. The 18 people named as accused include Binit Kotia (32), Hitesh Kotia (55), Gopaldas Shah (58), Vatsak Shah (25), Dipen Shah (24), Dharmil Shah (27), Rashmikant Prajapati (38), Jatin Doshi (64), Neha Doshi (30), Tejal Doshi (46), Bhimsinh Yadav (36), Ved Prakash Yadav (50), Dharmin Bhatani (34), Nutan Shah (48), Vaishakhi Shah (22), Lake Zone manager Shantilal Solanki as well as boat operators Nayan Gohil and Ankit.

Meanwhile, the families mourning the loss of their children began lining up at burial and cremation grounds in Vadodara on Friday. A Class 4 student was buried at a cemetery in the Panigate area of the city at 2 am on Friday. The burial rituals of two other children, from Class 3 and Class 6, were also underway on Friday.

A paternal uncle of a Class 4 student who died in the accident said, “My niece was a bright student. She was the oldest of two siblings. She had been excited about the picnic that included boating. The children had been asked to carry snacks for the picnic and she had got her mother to cook her favourite snack… Little did we know that this tragedy would occur… The pain cannot be lessened by any compensation. It cannot bring back the child.”