The government has shown unseemly haste in reopening navigation on the Sela River less than one month after the catastrophic oil spill that caused huge and still unquantified damage to the Sundarbans eco-system.
By failing to wait for the final report of the UN expert team conducting an environmental impact assessment, the shipping minister betrays a warped sense of priorities.
Narrow business interests should never take precedence over the government’s duty to act with care to safeguard this unique nature reserve and invaluable World Heritage Site.
Impartial observers cannot take seriously the minister’s claim that he has merely bowed to an ultimatum given by marine workers, when he himself has close ties to the organisations involved and has been blamed by a parliamentary watchdog for being responsible for permitting the risky passage of oil tankers down this route in the first place.
Expressing concern for the livelihood of workers sounds noble, but is not a plausible explanation given the government does not respond similarly in other cases.
For the sake of the Sundarbans, we hope the government can stick to its promise to uphold stringent conditions on the transport of cargo and to quickly revive the alternative legal waterway between Mongla and Ghosiakhali.
There is still an overwhelming case for the government to hold the shipping minister to account for the catastrophe on the Sela River. His culpability and lack of contrition are self evident. The prime minister can only benefit by using this case to send a clear signal that the government will break form the past and hold minsters to account for failures.
