Expressing concern over the increasing instances of drowning reported from the Cauvery river at Muthathi in Mandya district, Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Steel H. D. Kumaraswamy has written to Home Minister Priyank Kharge seeking additional security measures in the area.

Mr Kumaraswamy’s letter to the Home Minister comes in the wake of the recent drowning in Muthathi of five persons including four women related to each other on Wednesday.

A popular tourist destination in Mallavalli taluk of Mandya district, Muthathi had witnessed the drowning of 36 people in the Cauvery river over the last five years including 11 over the last five months, said Mr. Kumaraswamy citing statistics.

Mr. Kumaraswamy, who represents Mandya in the Lok Sabha, emphasised the need to prevent such tragedies. He attributed the recurring deaths of tourists to the dangerous whirlpools in the river at Muthathi.

In the letter, the Union Minister has urged Mr. Kharge to establish a police outpost in the village while also immediately deploying additional security personnel along the Cauvery riverbank at Muthathi.

He said there was a need to install warning signboards, erecting barbed-wire fencing and barricades along the riverbank to prevent visitors from entering the water while taking urgent steps to open a police outpost in the village.

Mr. Kumaraswamy noted that Muthathi is one of the State’s well-known tourist destinations and devotees from different parts of Karnataka visit the Sri Anjaneya Swamy temple in the village and take a holy dip in the Cauvery. 

However, in the absence of adequate warning signboards and rescue personnel, visitors unknowingly venture into dangerous stretches of the river and lose their lives, he said, drawing the Home Minister’s attention to the issue.

Body found

Meanwhile, one more body was found in the Cauvery river in Muthathi on Friday.

Police said the body belonged to a doctor from Kestur Rakshit Gowda, who was missing from Kestur village in Maddur taluk. A missing complaint had been registered in Kestur police station before his body was found, said the police attributing the death to suicide.

(If you are in distress or having suicidal tendencies, please reach out to these helplines: TeleMANAS at 1-8008914416/ 14416, NIMHANS at 08026685948, 9480829670 or SAHAI at 080 25497777, +91-9886444075)