Bhubaneswar: Odisha has been witnessing four drowning deaths every day with 8,506 fatalities being registered in the last six years, Minister Of State (Home) Tusharkanti Behera told the Assembly here on Monday.
On an average, 1,417 lives are lost every year due to drowing.
In a written reply to a question of BJP MLA Sukant Kumar Nayak, Behera said that 935 deaths due to drowning were reported in 2016, and there has been a consistent rise in this number with 1,079 fatalities being registered in 2017 and 1,406 in 2018. Similarly, 1,441 drowning cases were reported in 2019, 1,840 in 2020 and 1,805 in 2021, he added.
The highest number of 121 drowning cases was reported from Cuttack urban police district in 2016 followed by 57 from Mayurbhanj district and 54 from Balasore district the same year.
According to available data, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar and Ganjam reported more drowning deaths compared to other districts every year. 2021 saw 167 deaths being reported in Mayurbhanj district, followed by Keonjhar (145), Ganjam (111), Bhadrak (98), Kendrapara (95), Puri (80) and Jagatsinghpur (80).
The Odisha government has included drowning deaths in the list of state-specific disasters and provides financial assistance of Rs 4 lakh each to the victims’ families.
