Partha Varanashi who is a swimming coach and the Director of Surflife Saving (India), which is affiliated to Rashtriya Life Saving Society (India), proposed the Surf Life saving school, for visitors on Tannirbhavi beach in Mangaluru. She explained that a school in this regard will help to conduct necessary life saving skill training regularly. In recent times, when cyclones have drastically increased in comparison to previous years, at least one member of a family being trained to face troubled waters can be of great help.
Teaching people sea swimming techniques and in turn training them to rescue others during a disaster is a necessary skill. Giving wings to this idea is the Dakshina Kannada district administration. They will set up a Surf Life Saving School at the second entrance to Tannirbhavi beach. The State Tourism department had proposed this method in 2017 as a step towards improving Tannirbhavi beach as a tourist spot among other regions. Tourism minister Priyank M. Kharge had also sanctioned Rs 5 crore for the school.
In 1998 when Rashtriya Life Saving Society of India (RLSS- I) began its drowning prevention programme, it was in response to the unfortunate death by drowning of 29 students due to a school bus accident on 19 November 1997. If any one in the vicinity would have been equipped with the knowledge of performing CPR, many children who were rescued from the river, could have been saved.
The main motive of RLSS- I is to help.people be better aware of life saving techniques. Starting their sessions at swimming pools, now they organise training programmes in other waterfronts. They also train for general care of accident victims. Recently, they have included first aid techniques as part of road safety measures. They intend to encourage the youth to learn how to swim, to teach them first aid and life saving skills, recognise and appreciate those who do good in these terms, to provide first aid and prevent loss of lives either on land or on water and also to integrate information about drowning incidents and rescue activities. They also aim to investigate the accidents and in turn devise new and improved rescue operations.
On World Tourism day, Deputy Commissioner Dr K.V. Rajendra informed that the Surf Life school will open soon. In order to promote environmentally viable construction, Mangaluru City North MLA, Y. Bharath Shetty, mentioned the proposal for a green building using metal and other materials to build the school in the green canopy of the beach has been submitted. The construction work is also scheduled to commence within a week.
Since its commencement in 2013, Surflife Saving (India) has played an integral part in training 38 people in surf life saving at Tannirbhavi. Out of these trained persons, six have participated in international surf life saving competitions. 200 children have also been trained in Udupi and 300 youths in Karwar in 2016. One-hour training sessions will be conducted on the Tannirbhavi beach at 7.30 a.m. on Sundays. Nirup Kotian and Srikrishna and Rohit P., Anish Panambur, Yagnesh Bengre, Dixit R, who are bronze-level trainers,will be conducting the training sessions.
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