SHC tells Keenjhar Lake admin to submit report on implementation of SOPs

The Sindh High Court directed the manager of the Keenjhar Lake resort on Tuesday to submit a report with photographs showing implementation of standard operating procedures (SOPs) at the lake.

Hearing a petition against a lack of safety arrangements at the lake resort due to which 10 picnickers had drowned in August, a division bench, headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar, inquired the deputy commissioner of Thatta about the responsibility of the local administration to ensure safety standards and implementation of the SOPs at the tourist spot.

The deputy commissioner submitted a report on how safe conditions were being provided to picnickers at the lake. The resort manager told the high court that certain steps had been taken to implement the SOPs. The court observed that appropriate safety arrangements, including lifejackets and lifeboats, should be available at the lake.

It directed the manager to submit a report along with some photographs to show what development had taken place at the resort in accordance with the SOPs. The matter was adjourned till November 10.

Petitioner Nadeem Sheikh stated that 10 persons, including women and children, had drowned when a boat carrying picnickers capsized in the lake on August 17. He said the high court had earlier ordered the administration to adopt safety measures at the lake and the province’s coastal areas, but no steps had been taken to improve safety and rescue operations.

The court had earlier directed the deputy commissioner to come up with effective SOPs so that such kinds of incidents could be avoided. During Tuesday’s hearing, it directed the provincial law officer to call the secretary for tourism at the next hearing and explain what effective safety measures were being taken at the tourism spots in the province.