Three Vedic school students drowned in the Kollidam River in Srirangam when they went to take a bath in the early hours of Monday (15 May 2023).

The Acharya Sriman Bhattar Gurukulam Vedic School is functioning in the Melavasal Pattarthoppu area of Srirangam district. More than 50 children are staying here during the summer vacations and studying Vedic lessons.

Gopalakrishnan (17), a Class 11 student from Valarasampatti in Nasiyanur in Erode district, Vishnuprasad (14), a Class 7 student of Mannargudi, Hariprasad (14), another Class 10 student from Mannargudi and Kidambi Venkatagiridhar Sai Surya Abhiram (14), a class 10 student from Guntur Sampath Nagar in Andhra Pradesh, went to the Kollidam River at 5.45 AM on Monday.

The Kaveri splits into two branches – Kaveri and Kollidam – at Mukkombu. Due to ongoing work for the drinking water project at Mukkombu, the amount of water required to be released in the Kaveri River has been reduced, and instead 1,900 cubic feet of water was released in the Kollidam River. As a result, the inflow of water into the Kollidam River increased suddenly.

There was apparently no warning issued about the sudden inflow or measures put in place to prevent people from venturing into the Kollidam River.

Unfortunately, the four students who went to the Kollidam River to take a bath without knowing that the river’s inflow were caught in the speeding river.

BJP MLA Vanathi Srinivasan has demanded that the Tamil Nadu government give a solatium of ₹25 lakh to each of the families of the deceased students.

She said, “Generally, there is not much inflow of water into the Kollidam river. Also, since it’s summer, the water will be less. It is in that belief that the boys have bathed there. But suddenly, without any prior intimation, water was released in Kollidam. As a result, the four boys who were bathing in Kollidam were washed away in the water. The news of the death of three other boys except Gopalakrishnan is shocking and painful. When you think about how the minds of parents who have lost their children will suffer, there is unbearable grief. The death of the three boys was due to the sudden release of water into the Kollidam river without any prior notice.

She said that the Tamil Nadu government has to be held responsible for the tragic death of the three students.

“The Government of Tamil Nadu should take appropriate action against those responsible for this irresponsibility. Government should pay a compensation of ₹25 lakh to the families of the children who died due to the negligence of the government. People should be informed in advance about the release of water in rivers like Kollidam.”

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Three Vedic school students drowned in the Kollidam River in Srirangam when they went to take a bath in the early hours of Monday (15 May 2023).

The Acharya Sriman Bhattar Gurukulam Vedic School is functioning in the Melavasal Pattarthoppu area of Srirangam district. More than 50 children are staying here during the summer vacations and studying Vedic lessons.

Gopalakrishnan (17), a Class 11 student from Valarasampatti in Nasiyanur in Erode district, Vishnuprasad (14), a Class 7 student of Mannargudi, Hariprasad (14), another Class 10 student from Mannargudi and Kidambi Venkatagiridhar Sai Surya Abhiram (14), a class 10 student from Guntur Sampath Nagar in Andhra Pradesh, went to the Kollidam River at 5.45 AM on Monday.

The Kaveri splits into two branches – Kaveri and Kollidam – at Mukkombu. Due to ongoing work for the drinking water project at Mukkombu, the amount of water required to be released in the Kaveri River has been reduced, and instead 1,900 cubic feet of water was released in the Kollidam River. As a result, the inflow of water into the Kollidam River increased suddenly.

There was apparently no warning issued about the sudden inflow or measures put in place to prevent people from venturing into the Kollidam River.

Unfortunately, the four students who went to the Kollidam River to take a bath without knowing that the river’s inflow were caught in the speeding river.

Vishnuprasad, Abhiram, and Hariprasad were washed away in the fast-moving water. When Gopalakrishnan tried to save them, he was also carried away by the rapidly moving water.

Fire fighters and Srirangam police reached the spot to carry out the rescue operation. The flow of water from Mukkombu Upper Anicut to Kollidam was temporarily halted for the search operation. Vishnuprasad’s body was recovered while search for Hariprasad and Abhiram’s bodies were recovered later. Except Gopalakrishnan, all the others died.

The Stalin-led DMK government, which announced a compensation of ₹10 lakhs to each of the families of the deceased who consumed spurious liquor and awarded ₹50,000 solatium to one of the culprits responsible for the tragedy, has not even expressed condolences over the unfortunate deaths of the Vedic School students, let alone announcing a solatium for them.

BJP MLA Vanathi Srinivasan has demanded that the Tamil Nadu government give a solatium of ₹25 lakh to each of the families of the deceased students.

(With inputs from The Hindu Tamil)

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