Panambur Beach Life Guards Save 3 Drowning Persons In Spite of PBTDP Ceasing Contract

Panambur Beach Life Guards Save 3 Drowning Persons In Spite of PBTDP Ceasing Contract

•  Panambur Beach LifeGuards (earlier with PBTDP) Save Three Drowning Persons In spite of Panambur Beach Tourism Development Project ( PBTDP) headed by Entrepreneur Isaac Vas and former banker with State Bank of India Yathish Baikampady ceasing Contract with Karnataka Tourism department

Mangaluru: Until recently a team of lifeguards stationed at Panambur Beach were employees of Panambur Beach Tourism Development Project (PBTDP), managed by entrepreneur Isaac Vaz and former banker Yathish Baikampady, who after nearly twelve years at the helm of PBTDP had to say “Sayonara” aka “Goodbye” since their contract with the Government Tourism Department, even though had ended in 2018, still continued till 2020 on mutual understanding. And for these dozen of lifeguards employed with PBTDP, for nearly 12 years had made Panambur Beach a “Home Away from Home”, and have saved quite a few drowning persons who had ventured into the rough waters, in spite of warnings posted and also said personally, about the danger entering into sea water.

The first saving of a drowning person by the lifeguards happened on 17 October,when tourist Ajith along with four of his friends got into the water and Ajit was drawn into the rip current. Ajit, aged 42 was rescued by these lifeguards, even though their employment with PBTDP had ended, since their employer’s term of contract was over, but out of kind gesture and being Good Samaritans the life guards who had come there to collect their belongings, making no decision sprung into action in saving Ajith when they saw he was drowning. This rescue adds to the 350+ rescue at Panambur Beach by these Lifeguards, it is learnt.

Rescued from Drowning 42-years-old Ajith by Panambur Beach Lifeguards

Following close on its heels after the 17 October incident, two more persons’ lives were saved by the Lifeguards of Panambur Beach Tourism Development Project, today, 18 October. Luckily for these two survivors, the lifeguards were posted by PBTDP keeping in view of the safety of the weekend crowd- and it did help. Sharanappa (35 years) from Itagi, Bijapur and Nagaraja H S (18 years)from Jokatte, Mangalore came to Panambur Beach along with their friends (10 people) post lunch and ventured into the sea and were drawn into the rip current. Luckily for them, they were rescued by our Lifeguards.

Sharanappa (35 years) from Itagi, Bijapur and Nagaraja H S (18 years) from Jokatte, Mangaluru

According to Yathish Baikampady, the former CEO of PBTDP , the two persons after lunch along with ten of their friends were having some fun in the sea water, two of them were drawn into the strong currents and washed away. The two persons are Sharanappa (35), a native of Itagi, Vijaypura, and Nagaraj H S (18), a resident of Jokatte in the outskirts of Mangaluru. Fortunately, the presence of lifeguards at the beach quickly rushed to their rescue and brought them to safety. It should be noted that ever since the lifeguards of Panambur Beach Tourism Development Project took charge of ensuring safety of visitors to the beach way back in 2008, there has been a drastic decrease in the number of drowning cases.

It should be noted that Panambur Beach Tourism Development Project (PBTDP), the FIRST private beach management entity in this part of the world, had recently ended their contract with the government in managing picturesque Panambur beach. Managed by Jyothi Advertisers, the lease holders, PBTDP with entrepreneur Isaac Vaz and former banker Yathish Baikampady as initiators, made safety and cleanliness of the beach as its unique selling proposition for stakeholders for a total of nearly twelve years. With the Government department of tourism shooting off a letter to the joint initiators that their 10-year lease that ended in 2018 and extended twice for a period of one-year each had ended, PBTDP duo, Isaac and Yathish decided to move on. Keeping future plans close to his chest, Yathish speaking to Team Mangalorean said, “The twelve long years had been a good run in managing the beach on a PPP mode for so long without any blemish. This saw other states such as Maharashtra, AP and Goa too try out this model” 

“If saving lives of 350 plus people in this period is an achievement that the staff at PBTDP is proud of, we did have our moments of anguish in not being able to save seven,” he admitted. The lifeguards bowed out on a high by saving the life of a youth from Ballari on Saturday, saving Ajith, even though they were legally not obligated to do so. Incidentally, the lifeguards were at the beach, packing up their equipment when the rescue opportunity presented. At this moment we wish to inform you that as our Term of Agreement with the District Administration for Management of Panambur Beach is complete, we will no longer be managing activities at the Beach. We wish to thank everyone particularly the Members of the Press and Media and the Public of Mangaluru for the tremendous support given to us all along our journey”.
“Even though the endeavor was challenging from day one we have the satisfaction of not only making the beach active but an entire change of attitude towards upkeep, maintenance and safety and cleanliness of the beaches in our Country. Even before the ‘blue flag’ concept for beaches was heard off we have been able to change the face of the beach with our native resources and without hurting the sentiments of the Local people particularly the fisherman community for whom the beach was a part of their life. We were able to hold a number of National and International Events including Boat Races, International Kite Festival, National Level Kabbadi Matches , Beach Festivals, Surfing Competitions and events including Yoga and other activities that have created a number of jobs in Life saving, boating, Jet ski, Event Management and other beach related activities including training for lifeguards where we had engages trainers from Surf Life Australia”.
“Over a period the Life Guards of Panambur Beach have saved over 300 plus lives at the beach and also participated with lifesaving activities during flooding disasters and accidents involving drowning. This one achievement will always bring us satisfaction when around 20 deaths are happening every year at the beach mostly of youngsters. Today a number of beaches in the country have taken a leaf from the format that we had initially suggested to the District Administration in our expression of interest and are following the Panambur Beach Model in managing their beaches” added Yathish.

“Tumba Danyavadagalu”-“Thanks a Million” to all Beach Goers from Isaac Vaz (L) and Yathish Baikampady (R)

Team Mangalorean would like to compliment Isaac Vaz and Yathish Baikampady for a job well done, and wish them all success in their future endeavours- and after all Issac Vaz, was my college mate, the same year we graduated (he did his B Com and myself, B Sc) from St Aloysius College, Mangaluru.