Eid and the destitute

During the two Eids, we put on nice clothes and spend a lot on buying gifts and cooking good food. At times, some even compete with others to buy the most expensive clothes. It seems that Eid is only for spending -- buying something for us or our relatives and having rich food. In the case of Eid-ul-Azha, some people spend as much as possible for buying the most expensive sacrificial animal and it has become a status factor. This is the case of only a small segment of the total population but the scenario of the other segment is quite opposite in actuality. Eid-ul-Azha, one of the largest religious festivals for Muslims, is only some hours away. Though, majority of the country's population is Muslim and it is expected that they will enjoy the festival to their fullest, it rarely happens so, as many of the country's people live in dire distress. Nearly half of the total population lives below the poverty line. They face the harsh reality of life every day. They neither have the ability to afford new dress nor have the ability to arrange special food on Eid day. For them, Eid comes and goes like every other day. Just consider the city's slums where new migrants, in most cases, try to find a roof over their heads. Almost half of the city's population lives in slums. On the one hand, slum people live in unhealthy and inhuman conditions and face continuous threat of eviction, unemployment, under-employment, hunger, malnutrition, disease, and the lack of safe water supply and sanitation facilities. On the other hand, the prevalence of crime and violence is also a major problem in the slums. In such a condition, Eid is just like any other day to the slum dwellers. Again, an overwhelming number of street children are found in almost all cities and towns in the country. Street children are among the most vulnerable groups of the country's population, as they are deprived of some of the basic human rights that all citizens of the country enjoy. Many of these street children, who are known as Tokai, are seen searching for food in trash bins or looking for food thrown away by restaurants. However, they can find something to eat only if they are lucky, otherwise, there is no option left for them but to starve or simply drink water from taps and tube-wells. When they fall ill, there is nothing much to do except to lie down in the footpaths. Street children, more often than not, are treated as the city's nuisance. Does Eid really bring any joy to them? Last but not least, though Eid brings joy to people of almost all walks of life, the rickshawpullers can share this joy very little due to their extreme poverty. They have no respite from work to think about Eid which is just knocking at the door. Eid does not bring any special message for them apart from that they can earn some extra money by pulling rickshaws on traffic-jam free roads. It, thus, seems that one group in this society can spend at their will and the other struggles to survive or meet their daily necessities. So, while we are celebrating the auspicious day, there is a need for all of us to exercise self-restraint, to be extra careful about the needs of the destitute. If our neighbours remain unfed and unclothed, it can hardly be a festival for the Muslims. The word Eid means "joy"; however, Eid-ul-Azha is neither an occasion for unlimited fun and joy nor a festival of spending in an extravagant way, rather it is a festival to enjoy and sacrifice on the basis of the true spirit of Islam. So, we should share our happiness, in the celebration and in prayer and in our activities, with our relatives and neighbours. Let's hope for the best. Country roads, take me home safely Meanwhile, people travelling during Eid are facing many hazards on the roads. "Country roads, take me home", a famous song and possibly millions of city dwellers are singing this song as Eid-ul-Azha is knocking at the door. Bus fare is much more than the normal rate, people are found waiting for hours to avail themselves of a bus, buses are jam-packed and there are many more problems, but nothing can stop millions of city dwellers from going to their village home or elsewhere to celebrate Eid with their near and dear ones. As Eid comes near, the question of road safety and road condition looms large. According to a report in a national daily, maintenance of roads and highways is in a sorry state even though a plan was taken to repair 5000 km of roads around the country at a cost Tk 36 billion. What is disturbing at this stage is that although Eid-ul-Azha is only a few days away but the authorities, responsible for maintenance, still claims lack of sufficient fund hinders their work. It is a matter of concern whether the authorities have given the matter the due importance that it deserves, to ensure safe journey of the home-goers. Again, according to another report, the government has only utilised a paltry amount of the annual development programme (ADP) budget even when maintenance of roads and highways is badly needed. Over the years, implementation status of ADP has been far from satisfactory and a major portion of ADP remains unutilised. Under such circumstances, lack of sufficient fund cannot be the answer. Earlier, hundreds of people on the Eid day (Eid-ul-Fitr) rallied at the Central Shaheed Minar in the capital to press their seven-point demand including ensuring road safety. The demands were: stopping issuance of illegal driving licence, ensuring discipline in mass transport system, and enacting tougher laws to curb road accident, proper training for drivers and ensuring accountability. A pervasive sense of pessimism exists all around as drivers, liable for most accidents, more often than not, manage to flee away. And the recent incident is quite an ominous sign---transport workers registered protest over the arrest of a reckless driver and they demanded that divers should not be treated as killers even if they were liable for death of passengers or pedestrians. On the other hand, they expressed their wrath by hurling shoes at a portrait of Ilias Kanchan, who has been working for ensuring road safety, at the Central Shaheed Minar. Is there anything worse than this? How do the people forget that Shaheed Minar is not a place to flinging shoes? Treating a driver as a killer is wrong certainly but accidents are taking lives everyday due to incompetent and irresponsible driving. Such driving killed the wife of Ilias Kanchan about 18 years back. Since then, Mr. Kanchan has been a lone fighter in ensuring road safety. The depth of such type of tragedy is only known by them whose relatives or dear ones die or get injured in road accidents. The persons responsible for these killing, the drivers, should also understand what harm they do to the society. A few days back, Ilias Kanchan went on a hunger strike to draw attention of the authorities. Whether this hunger strike has drawn the attention of our government or not, surely it has drawn the attention of the people who lost their parents, brothers, sisters, sons or daughters in road accidents. The loss of road accidents is difficult to calculate but needless to say, the loss due to accidents is a national loss. According to newspaper reports, road accidents claim some 12,000 people annually in Bangladesh, that means 1000 people per month. While the economic cost of road accidents is beyond any calculation. Against this backdrop, the authorities should enforce laws with an iron hand to ensure safety of millions of home-goers. We must not allow things to carry on the way it is going on right now. No matter how unsafe or dilapidated the roads conditions are, people wait for two the Eid vacations with great enthusiasm and during these vacations they try to pass some time with their relatives to get a relief from their hectic life in the city. Let's hope for the best -- country roads, take us home safely. The writer can be reached at email : shafiqul0032@yahoo.com