Boating in Rawal Lake, one of the main attractions of the Lake View Park is a popular activity but hundreds of lives are endangered as no safety measures are taken. Instead of ensuring that safety regulations are enforced, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has merely attempted to impose a ban on the activity, which is openly breached by the boatmen.
Water boating at the park commenced a few years ago under a private contractor and authorities have so far failed to ensure the provision of life guards — who are usually deployed at such places to safeguard people’s lives in case of mishaps and accidents. When contacted, the CDA’s Director of Parks, Asif Majeed, refused to comment on the issue, “We have clear cut instructions from the chairman not to talk to media persons,” he said.
A source in the CDA said that the officials concerned pointedly ignore this issue for reasons better known to them. In 2009, when Lake View Park was established and motor-boating in the lake commenced under the plan of the then CDA chairman Kamran Lashari, environmentalists raised a hue and cry over it due to the pollution motorboats created in the lake which remains the primary source of drinking water for residents of Rawalpindi.
In the same year, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) banned this activity. Since the imposition of the ban, motor boating in the lake has ended but manual and paddle boating continues. The only half-hearted step the CDA has taken to end unsafe boating and implement their ban is the erection of barbed wires to disassociate the boating area from the rest of the park. The boating contractor is of the view that his business provides entertainment to visitors.
He considered the ban a move to snatch the contractor’s right to do business, “The CDA’s Director of Parks is using unethical means to stop us from earning a livelihood. The court banned us from motor boating but Asif Majeed is trying to force us to abandon the business which we have inherited from our ancestors” said Yasir, a boatman, while talking to Pakistan Today.
Pakistan Today has learnt that over fifty families are earning their livelihoods through this business. The boatmen claimed that they were ready to hire life guards if that is what convinces the CDA to open the main boating point and lift the ban. According to the CDA employees in the park, there have been several incidences of people drowning in the lake while swimming, but despite this people continue to swim in the lake and no lifeguards have been deployed for safety.
Whereas ironically, boating, an activity which has had no reported casualties yet, has been banned even though it is one of the main attractions of the park. Visitors to the park demanded that the CDA deploy life guards on a permanent basis and adopt other safety measures instead of just banning the activity. “We often come here just for boating, if we want to visit a park, we could easily visit any other in the city. Boating is what makes this park special,” said Ahmed Ali, a resident of G-6/2.
Lake View Park is the only park in federal capital where the visitors can enjoy boating.
