Holding those behind Uttara girder-crash to account

The death of five people of a family in a concrete girder collapse in Dhaka's Uttara is shocking. But it is not the first such incident in Bangladesh. The tragedy occurred exactly a month after a worker was killed by a falling crane in the Gazipur part of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project. Another girder of the BRT under-construction project collapsed near the Dhaka airport in March 2021. The recurrence of such accidents has raised the question of public safety among the agencies implementing the projects. Such accidents look like nothing but a sheer negligence of the contracting organisation. Why didn't the construction authorities take the vehicles off the road while installing heavy things like girder?

The construction of flyovers and elevated expressways is important. But for the authorities, more important is to ensure taking enough precautions so that not a single person is harmed. There should be no movement of vehicles or people at such places where risky work is going on. The workers involved in the construction work should also be ensured the highest type of safety and security. If we do not take measures now, there is every possibility of such accidents taking place again and again in the future. Those who are responsible for such an accident should be brought to book. And the bereaved family should be compensated for loss they suffered at the earliest. What we want now is just a guarantee of normal death.

AB Siddik,

Pirganj, Rangpur