India, Feb. 8 -- Sir,

The series of accidents since 2018 at the Visvesvaraya Canal in Mandya, which has claimed numerous lives - including the latest incident on Feb. 3, when a car plunged into the canal after the driver lost control, resulting in three deaths (Star of Mysore dated Feb. 4) - can only be attributed to the inexcusable neglect of the authorities in implementing foolproof safety measures.

Rightly, villagers blame officials for failing to construct a retaining wall and other necessary safety measures. The fact that this canal bund is frequently used by school and college buses should have been a warning. Yet, these accidents continue to occur as no one is held accountable.

In this era of advanced technology, finding an engi...