The lifeguard is here, but is he good enough?

India is waking up to beach safety, but only time will tell if the measures taken by its various states in this regard will yield the desired results

MUMBAI: They neither have the looks, nor the skills of Baywatch-fame David Hasselhoff. But Indian lifeguards have begun to make their presence felt. The sharp rise in beach tourism and the resultant increase in the number of sea mishaps have forced many states to appoint lifeguards for the first time. It will, however, take time for the ill-trained and unglamorous Indian lifeguard to earn the faith and following of the beach-goer a la the Baywatch team.

Ten months after the state government promised the high court in October 2006 that Mumbai’s beaches will have adequate number of lifeguards, 18 life-savers have been appointed in the city.

Unfortunately, though, none of the lifeguards is fully trained. The lifeguards hired at the start of the monsoon say they had to compromise on training because of the urgency to report to work, with the BMC expecting them to get trained on the job.

A BMC official said, “One of the major tasks of a lifeguard is to control the crowds on beaches. We had to rush the first batch (of lifeguards), but we’ll soon make the necessary changes.”

This is the first time that BMC lifeguards are patrolling the beaches. Earlier, the Aksa and Juhu beaches had lifeguards appointed by private agencies.

The first batch of lifeguards was selected from over 100 applicants and has been appointed on a contract basis for six months. The selected had to clear a fitness test which included swimming 400 metres in open sea.

Of the 18 selected, two have been posted at Shivaji Park, two at Girgaum Chowpatty and five at Aksa and Madh Island. Three lifeguards patrol the 4-km Versova Beach, while Juhu has four working in two shifts, each patrolling a five-km stretch. The Mahim and Dadar beaches are still to get lifeguards. Two have been kept on standby.

The full-time lifeguards are paid Rs6,000 for an eight-hour shift.

Rohan Raigule, 19, who has been helping immerse Ganesh idols for years, is confident of ensuring safety on Mumbai’s beaches.  “I first began helping an NGO immerse Ganpati idols. I liked it so much that I decided to take it up as a full-time profession. I may not have received training, but am confident I will do fine.”

Orissa waking up: In Orissa, the tourism department is just about waking up to the idea of beach patrol and is helping local NGO Barefoot with both funds and manpower. “The state tourism department is not directly involved but acts as a facilitator. Attempts are also being made to involve the fishing community,” says Biranchi Mishra, joint director, tourism department. At present, about 100 lifeguards are deployed on the Puri beach.

Kerala on a cruise: Kerala Tourism has appointed about 80 lifeguards to man the beaches on the Western Coast. The recruits from the fishing community and professionals trained by the National Institute of Watersports keep a vigil on all beaches, unlike in the past when the patrol was confined to the beaches in Kovalam. However, lack of professional training has dampened the official recruitment plan.

Go Goa, be safe: Goa, perhaps the most well-known beach destination in the country, has 58 lifeguards patrolling the 105-km beachfront. Pamela Mascarenhas, deputy director of Goa tourism department, says its new beach safety project will have ambulances, speedboats, signboards on the nature of the sea and warning notes.

TN, Karnataka safe and sound: While swimming and bathing is banned on most Tamil Nadu beaches, Karnataka’s famous Panambur beach in Mangalore, 350 km west of Bangalore, will soon teem with lifeguards. The Mangalore district administration last week invited bids for its beach safety project, M Maheshwar Rao, deputy commissioner of Dakshina Kannada, told DNA. In a first in Karnataka, the two-km-long Panambur beach will have skilled swimmers apprising tourists of the nature of the sea and so on.