As the nation watched with bated breath the activities around an abandoned well in Dhaka’s Shahjahanpur to recover the four-year-old boy Jihad, the first thing that struck millions was why such a tunnel was left without a security lid. But in a city where death lurks in every possible corner, asking that question makes little sense.
Take this for instance. Within the Dhaka University area, there are several road dividers, especially the one in front of Jagannath Hall, which starts abruptly from the middle of the road without any proper sign for vehicles using the road.
In the dense winter fog, the divider is obscured, leaving the road user dependent either on his luck or a very (read superhuman) sharp eye. The divider has been there for some time. There have been plenty of accidents, including young motorcycle riders tripping over the edge and getting injured, yet no proper signboard in fluorescent colours was set there to warn the road users.
The same goes for the intersection of three roads near the Dhaka Medical College – Shaheed Minar entrance. Three roads, from Chankharpul, Doyel intersection, and TSC meet here, but there aren’t proper signs to warn the road users.
As efforts were underway to rescue baby Jihad from the deep well, an array of potential life-threatening situations existing around the city came rushing.
Take the main islands dividing most roads within Dhaka. Some islands are actually raised platforms on underground sewerage lines, and while there are lids on top after certain intervals, some of the covers are often absent, even in the affluent areas. Unless you know of potential danger ahead, a painful shock will greet you.
For some odd reason, there are vertical steel bars on some islands, rising from the bottom, which are not noticed at first glance. Any pedestrian wanting to cross the road may miss it and trip over on the main road.
Now, let’s talk about the over-bridges. The basic rule is to make footbridges user friendly. Most stairs of the bridges in the city are slippery, while the distance between two stairs is too high for senior citizens to negotiate comfortably. As for special facilities for people with physical constraints, there are none.
Coming back to the whole rescue operation, it appeared that the efforts were sometimes overshadowed by too many curious people trying to take a peek. Emergency rules state that if there is a sink-hole or an opening where someone has fallen, a demarcated area needs to be secured first within which serious rescue efforts, not pontificating, will be permitted. What we saw in Shahjahanpur was a voyeuristic public curiosity show.
Now that we know for certainty it was the local people who actually managed to bring out the body of Jihad with their handmade, makeshift catcher, the question is if the fire brigade has any equipment at all to save people caught or stuck in very narrow areas.
Another thing which is troubling is the vociferous declaration of the authorities that there was nobody down in the tunnel after their so-called “highly sophisticated” camera failed to detect a human form.
Of course, after the boy was found by the locals, the tune changed. Rescue team leaders from the government’s side are saying that they did not abandon the search or call it off.
Whatever the case, bickering about who did what and who failed to act on time won’t bring back the boy to life; nor will it solve the countless safety hazards that plague this city.
Every year we hear that someone has fallen from an under-construction building which did not have safety railings or a safety net. Moreover, there are countless freak accidents where people using the streets fall into open ditches or pot holes.
The core notion that each and every public utility must have safety precautions is missing from common urban knowledge. Hence, we do not see fire extinguishers at restaurants, rubber tubes near ponds, or basic warning signs indicating depth of water at different times of the year.
Since large field areas of the city are used for weddings, religious gatherings, convocations, or rallies, countless holes – created from planting bamboo poles to support marquees – are left unattended, creating huge risk for children playing football or cricket. Also, construction materials like rods are kept in the open without protection.
Just placing four to five cardboard boxes on both sides of the rods can easily reduce the danger, though this common sense is missing. And, the less said about low-lying electric wires the better.
It’s most unfortunate that Jihad could not be rescued alive, but let us not allow this sudden end of life pass by and be overtaken by exploding crackers and unrestrained euphoria of 31st night. Instead of finding faults, let’s all unite to identify the safety issues within the city that need to be addressed.
The fire brigade can take the initiative with the help of ward commissioners. I mean ward commissioners do exist, right? The thing is these people only come out before the city corporation elections, and hence one often forgets that they exist.
The word Jihad means to wage war, so why not launch a campaign against the existing accident traps? Certainly, this will be a noble New Year’s resolution worth following up for the government.
