50 years on, why is it that we still cannot ensure safety?
Launch owner, 24 others sued over deadly fire
Ziaur Rahman
Publish : 27 Dec 2021, 07:32 AMUpdate : 27 Dec 2021, 07:32 AM
Recently, Bangladesh celebrated its 50th birth anniversary. Yet, have we been able to give security and comfort to our toiling masses? The answer is both yes and no. The great spirit of Bangladesh and our economic emancipation is enshrined in our constitution. It is enshrined there under Article 8(1) that Bangladesh shall entertain the four principles of nationalism, socialism, democracy and secularism.
How effectively we have achieved these principles? Sadly, we remain cluttered in our minds and actions and the backlash of such failure has been haunting us almost daily. No one seems to be safe in this country anymore.
In a recent failure, we saw more than a hundred young bodies getting burned to ashes in a fire in Narayanganj -- a few more such incidents have taken place in the past few years. Every time, we make an uproar, and the media becomes super active with covering the incidents, then the government takes a retroactive stance in correcting the situation. The entire nation sees the fatalities, and absorbs the grief, and moves on.
The same has happened again. Early Friday, at least 38 passengers were burned dead as a devastating fire broke out in a launch named MV Ovijan-10 on Sugandha river in the Jhalakathi district.
Bangladesh demands that a proper investigation be carried out and whether it happened as an accident, whether oversight or deliberate, that needs to be ascertained. These accidents normally take place when proper fitness of the vehicles is not done to save money. So, the owner's documents need to be looked into, otherwise similar accidents like this will take place without any reprieve and/or punishment. 50 years later, these incidents are uncalled for, and not fit for a nation that wants to become a developed nation soon.
As a nation, we need to truly find out our gaps in society and mend them to contain us from experiencing these deadly accidents. This is never in line with the spirit of the emancipation of the people of Bangladesh. Unfortunately, we speak of progress and development, but we fail miserably in giving security to our people in Bangladesh. This is a complete failure of the authorities but no one takes responsibility.
Progress and development can only happen when we are conducting ourselves in a righteous fashion. Bangladesh also needs to develop its technical resource base so that we have qualified professionals who can quickly spot problems in our electrical, mechanical, and industrial operations to avert such deadly accidents.
Strong emphasis may be also given to managing hazardous conditions, and government budgets ought to be increased so that we are able to better care for our citizens in these grave and deadly conditions. Lives matter and lives need to be saved, and we have failed to do so repeatedly when it comes to disasters in Bangladesh.
Ziaur Rahman is CEO and legal adviser at the International Institute of Technology & Management (IITM). He can be reached at [email protected]
When will we be safe?
Recently, Bangladesh celebrated its 50th birth anniversary. Yet, have we been able to give security and comfort to our toiling masses? The answer is both yes and no. The great spirit of Bangladesh and our economic emancipation is enshrined in our constitution. It is enshrined there under Article 8(1) that Bangladesh shall entertain the four principles of nationalism, socialism, democracy and secularism.
How effectively we have achieved these principles? Sadly, we remain cluttered in our minds and actions and the backlash of such failure has been haunting us almost daily. No one seems to be safe in this country anymore.
In a recent failure, we saw more than a hundred young bodies getting burned to ashes in a fire in Narayanganj -- a few more such incidents have taken place in the past few years. Every time, we make an uproar, and the media becomes super active with covering the incidents, then the government takes a retroactive stance in correcting the situation. The entire nation sees the fatalities, and absorbs the grief, and moves on.
The same has happened again. Early Friday, at least 38 passengers were burned dead as a devastating fire broke out in a launch named MV Ovijan-10 on Sugandha river in the Jhalakathi district.
Bangladesh demands that a proper investigation be carried out and whether it happened as an accident, whether oversight or deliberate, that needs to be ascertained. These accidents normally take place when proper fitness of the vehicles is not done to save money. So, the owner's documents need to be looked into, otherwise similar accidents like this will take place without any reprieve and/or punishment. 50 years later, these incidents are uncalled for, and not fit for a nation that wants to become a developed nation soon.
As a nation, we need to truly find out our gaps in society and mend them to contain us from experiencing these deadly accidents. This is never in line with the spirit of the emancipation of the people of Bangladesh. Unfortunately, we speak of progress and development, but we fail miserably in giving security to our people in Bangladesh. This is a complete failure of the authorities but no one takes responsibility.
Progress and development can only happen when we are conducting ourselves in a righteous fashion. Bangladesh also needs to develop its technical resource base so that we have qualified professionals who can quickly spot problems in our electrical, mechanical, and industrial operations to avert such deadly accidents.
Strong emphasis may be also given to managing hazardous conditions, and government budgets ought to be increased so that we are able to better care for our citizens in these grave and deadly conditions. Lives matter and lives need to be saved, and we have failed to do so repeatedly when it comes to disasters in Bangladesh.
Ziaur Rahman is CEO and legal adviser at the International Institute of Technology & Management (IITM). He can be reached at [email protected]