Suicides: SDRF must gear up

With no let up in suicides by jumping into river Jhelum especially in Srinagar, the people here have suggested the administration to keep the live boats and men ready at the vital points including bridges to ensure that such attempts are foiled in a hurry to save the precious lives. Srinagar district has recorded a number of suicide cases in last one week. A woman jumped into a river Jhelum at Safa Kadal on May 20 another attempted to commit suicide by jumping into river from Budhshah bridge, which was foiled by the cops and CRPF men present there. In the past, the government put up fences at some of the bridges in Srinagar locality to ensure that such incidents are prevented. Nonetheless, many of the bridges remain unattended as the authorities failed to put up fences in all the bridges to avoid such attempts. Moreover, one fails to understand why the live boats and the men from SDRF are not being kept ready at these vital points to rescue the people who attempt to commit suicide quickly. There is a need to understand the intensity of the situation and come up some preventive measures so that the precious lives could be saved well on time and the people who want to end their lives will get another chance to survive and defeat the odds of their life after proper counselling.