A major accident involving a launch or a bus or a train usually triggers a lot of activities on the part of the ministers and officials concerned.
But such hyper response to the post-accident situation tends to be short-lived. For ministers and officials are aware of the level of interest the common people usually take in various events. Moreover, there is no dearth of events in this country. People do not have to stick to any particular event for long. New happenings are aplenty and they have the propensity to switch over from one event to another as far as their discussion is concerned.
That is why men in authority frequently make promises to right a wrong through appropriate actions following any undesirable event. But, in most cases, appropriate actions hardly come by and the powerful people tend to forget their promises.
The Baraigram tragic road accident that had claimed 32 lives recently made newspaper headlines and triggered a flurry of activities at the policymakers' level. The head of the government personally directed the agencies concerned to ensure proper treatment of the injured bus passengers.
Minister for Road Transport and Bridges Obaidul Kader also appeared concerned about the frequent road accidents that, on average, kill 10 to 12 people everyday across the country.
The proceedings of a coordination meeting held at his ministry last Sunday are a testimony to that fact. The road transport minister announced that actions against unfit motor vehicles would start from November 10 next.
However, it remains to be seen how the minister gives effect to his announcement. He had promised similar actions in the past against errant transports and their owners but ultimately nothing happened.
A case in point is the official actions taken following the Baraigram road accident. The BRTA officials informed the meeting of actions taken against the owners of the bus companies involved in the Baraigram accident. The owner of the bus company concerned was reportedly fined Tk 100,000 for each of 15 buses found without fitness certificate and an executive given two months' prison sentence. Many would consider the actions as too soft given the loss of so many lives in the accident.
It is difficult to put faith in the words of the powerful quarters. In the past the road transport minister (then minister for communications) had asked the owners to get the buses plying the Dhaka city roads painted properly within a specific period. But the owners defied the instruction. Ramshackle buses, mini buses and human haulers are operating merrily with none asking any question.
No one would also possibly dispute the statement that the country's transport sector is gripped by anarchy and the government does not have any control over it. It is the vehicle owners and transport workers who call the shot in the sector.
Moreover, political influence, corruption and ownership pattern of vehicles are the factors that have made the transport sector a fertile ground for all sort of irregular activities.
Time and again it has been proved that the government succumbs to pressure coming from the transport owners and workers and the interests of the passengers get ignored. The fares are raised according to the demands of the bus owners, in most cases.
The Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) is known as a hotbed of corruption. For reasons of graft taking, its officials are unable to take actions against unfit motor vehicles and drivers without valid driving licences. Nearly half of the registered motor vehicles are reportedly plying without fitness certificates. The BRTA does not take actions against those on the plea of not having enough manpower and logistical support. What is more intriguing is that a large number of vehicles plying with valid fitness certificates are actually not road-worthy. The owners of the vehicles manage certificates by greasing palms of the BRTA officials concerned.
The incumbent minister has tried in vain to reduce the extent of bribe taking in the BRTA. The system is so rotten that it is hard on the part of anyone to streamline the transport sector that generates unearned income worth billions of taka every year for a large number of people, including politicians and the personnel in uniform.
Going by the way the drivers operate passenger vehicles in city roads and highways, the people in general have got the impression that the former are beyond the reach of the law and none is interested to rein them in. The relevant agencies are, apparently, reluctant to take the errant drivers to task, partly for bribe money they get from the sector and partly for the muscle-flexing power of the transport owners and workers.
The road transport ministry is working on a new bill that would replace the existing motor vehicle act, adopted in the early eighties. The objective is to update the law. But with a new law in place, nothing would change unless and until the law is enforced properly. Lack of enforcement of laws and rules is a major weakness of the governance system in Bangladesh. Even the old laws would have produced welcome results had those been enforced properly and fairly.
© 2024 - All Rights with The Financial Express
