The alarming rate of train accidents continuing to claim lives in Bangladesh is simply unacceptable, with the latest incident being the heartbreaking deaths of three children who were siblings. A total of four people died in the incident, when a Khulna-bound train crushed the three siblings and another person in Nilphamari Sadar upazila on Wednesday.
The Nilphamari Superintendent of Police has confirmed that there were no security personnel at the rail gate where the accident took place. It is business as usual, as no one appears to be held accountable for this tremendous failure in ensuring the safety of citizens.
Train accidents have been happening with unacceptable regularity. Just a day before the Nilphamari accident, on Tuesday, a man died and four others sustained injuries after a train crashed into a three-wheeler at Shyamganj level crossing in Mymensingh's Gouripur upazila. On December 4, two people were killed and 10 others wounded by a train hitting a bus and an auto-rickshaw in Chittagong city. In November, 13 people were killed and two others were injured in 11 train accidents.
Lack of resources can no longer be an excuse for letting people die. How long will the citizens of this country have to accept road traffic and rail accidents because the authorities concerned failed to do their job properly? The authorities -- especially the Ministry of Railways -- should be held accountable for why it continues to fail the people.
It was never acceptable to simply blame failure on resource limitation, and it is certainly not acceptable now. Development will mean very little if our citizens are not safe anywhere.