Here are the two headlines

Youth plunges to death bungee jumping!

Harness snaps, victim suffers head injuries on unlicensed site near Bannerghatta

(The Hindu, 12th April 2009)

Boy loses his lung after inhaling a toy part

Entire main bronchus in the left lung eroded, say doctors

(The Hindu, 10th June 2009)

Though both do not appear to be related they are tied up with a common string “Negligence”. Yes, carelessness and not attaching much importance to once precious life. Carelessness among the victims, their relatives, the authorities, the organizers and so on. All forget one thing: “It is extremely very difficult to create a life!” In other words life has no value!

In the first instance, G. Bhargava from London, 25, a marine engineer and an athlete, met with his death while he was attempting reverse jumping from a height of 50 feet, which others before him did successfully. Seems the clasp wrenched off the harness due to which he plummeted straight to the ground to lie in a pool of blood. As per his uncle, there was no safety net, first aid facilities, ambulance and other precautionary guidelines/measures. Everything was unprofessional and caused an irreparable loss to his dears and nears. One cannot just leave it to his fate as others did the jumping prior to him safely that day. The lethargic authorities in the government, who should have been vigilant and allowed the organizers after ensuring safety, woke up after the incident decided to bring all adventure sports clubs promoting bungee jumping (the fun is to scan only for bungee jumping and not for other adventurous sports!! Probably they will do so after such calamities in those sports!!!). The irony is that the state government did not even have proper guidelines and it is reported that they would draft the guidelines hereafter and he department of sport will monitor adventure games like bungee jumping. Only a few of the over 2,000 such clubs in the Bangalore city have obtained NOCs (no objection certificates) from service providers like police, Bescom, BBMP and the fire force.  The state of affairs is similar in other cities and states which are also run by inefficient persons who never care for precious human lives unless it comes to them. It is a shame on the part of the minister to utter as follows after the incident:” Though safety standards are ensured by the department’s General Thimappa Academy of Sports that organizes adventure sports, there are no provisions empowering the state department to monitor private adventure clubs. This has resulted in an increase in the number of clubs organizing such events without meeting specified requirements. I will call existing clubs after the elections and decide on the guidelines which will ensure safety and mete out stringent punishment to the violators.”