Hyderabad: Swimming pool told to pay for boy's death

Hyderabad: Tandra Krishna, a 65-year-old retired government employee, won a case against the owners and organisers of the Ocean Swimming Pool at Saidabad Colony, where his son lost his life because of their failure to implement safety measures.

Mr Krishna filed a complaint at the consumer forum stating that his son and his friends had gone to the Ocean Swimming Pool on April 25, 2007. He said that when his son had started to drown in the deep end of the pool, his friends had rushed to notify the authorities, but no action had been taken, as a result of which the boy had lost his life.

The complainant said that his son had been practising swimming at the time of the accident. He said that the authorities’ negligence and their failure to provide him with a coach had resulted in his death. The owners of the property tried to wash their hands off the matter by saying that the property had been leased to the organiser, and so it was the organiser who was responsible for the loss of life.

The forum ruled in favour of the complainant saying that the opposite parties “could not outsource the responsibility of the incident to each other”. It also stated that the owners of the swimming pool should have ensured that the organiser was fulfilling his responsibilities. It said that the mishap had occurred due to their lack of control and supervision. Both parties were ordered to pay a sum of Rs 4 lakh, along with Rs 50,000 as compensation and Rs 5,000 towards costs.