Launch capsize: ensure safety

The death toll in the launch mishap on Friday night has already crossed 76 and many more passengers are still missing. It was the kind of disaster that we have been watching on a regular basis whenever there is a heavy rush of passengers during any major festival. It is absolutely imperative for the government to ensure that launch owners and operators do not put commercial considerations ahead of human safety. During festivals, the authorities are focused on increasing the number of river crafts or the frequency of trips without sparing a thought on correspondingly ensuring safety precautions in river journeys or planning for contingency like a rescue operation. The issue has to be included in the government's list of areas where firm action is needed to set things right.
Dozens of committees were formed in the past following such tragedies and scores of suggestions and recommendations were tossed in, but what is the result? Launch capsize continues. Such lack of action could very well have emboldened the unscrupulous launch owners to carry on with their pernicious acts. Thus, the authorities are equally responsible for the loss of so many lives. The authorities need to realise that until and unless they take decisive and demonstrative actions against the launch operators whose greed translate into tragedies on the river and deaths of so many, such malpractices will continue. We demand that they should act decisively in this case and set a precedent so that the launch operators behave and go by the rules.

Gopal Sengupta
Canada
gopalsengupta@aol.com_ (mailto:gopalsengupta@aol.com)