Nothing but service matters, ultimately

Shafiqul Alam During the tenure of the last caretaker government, the ministry of communications (MoC) was divided into several divisions -- one was rail division and the other two were bridge & roads division -- on the ground that the MoC is one of the busiest ministries with some mega projects to implement aimed at addressing infrastructural deficiencies. But the reality is quite opposite and now, the Ministry of Railway will act independently to improve the railway service. It may be pointed out here that as a popular public transport, railway once had a vibrant network across most parts of the country. Lamentably, due to reluctance of the authorities since independence, the state of the railway sector took a downhill journey. It is simply the outcome of pursuing ill-planned policy -- focusing more on road transport than on railway -- which the authorities concerned have long been favouring neglecting the public sector and their interests. Now, we are reaping what we have already sown. A noteworthy section of the railway network, along with stations, around the country has been kept suspended for years. Worse still, day by day the total length of our rail network is decreasing which is quite an opposite trend to that of other countries that rely heavily on railway. Even our neighboring country, India has done tremendous improvement in this sector. According to official statistics, quoted in the report of a local daily, railway currently covers only some 2,000 kilometre routes against 21,000 km by roads and highways all over the country. With dilapidated condition of roads and highways and increased frequency of fatal road crashes, railway, albeit its poor services it, seems to be increasingly becoming popular with passengers at large. Again, passengers prefer train journeys over bus as they consider it safe and cheap. At the same time, railway is, by far, more cost-effective compared to trucks or any other freight transportation on roads. However, what is regrettable, hardly any effective step has been taken to make use of its potential thus far. Over the years, there have been many talltalks on the railway's turn-around which now seems to be elusive. Thus, the once major mode of transport of the country is, today, a fragile figure. Well-known factors such as mismanagement, corruption and lack of investment have led to this sad state of the railways, whereas with timely reforms and long-term planning, the Bangladesh Railway could become a rejuvenated organisation to deliver efficient services without incurring any loss. There is no denying the fact that the country cannot develop depending solely on road transportation and hence, railway transportation deserves due attention. Maybe, considering this, the government has formed a separate ministry to oversee the railway. Likewise, the government has also divided Dhaka City Corporation into two corporations, namely Dhaka north and Dhaka south, to improve the quality and delivery of its services such as electricity, gas and water, the quality of which has been declining for years. Let us come to the design of the mega city authorities -- WASA, DESA and other organisations which are responsible for delivering different services to the city dwellers -- where DCC has very little role except some tasks like keeping Dhaka clean, collecting trash from bins and the likes. But what hurts the people even more, when due to absence of synchronisation among different organisations of Dhaka city, people are facing severe problems quite regularly. Was splitting of DCC inevitable? Be that as it may, it is understandable that the performance of DCC or the railway has reached its nadir due to deficiency in planning of many years. It is also understandable that the division of the city corporation or the formation of a separate ministry of the railway would not radically improve these services. However, neither a separate railway ministry nor separate city corporations are the answer to the problems. Rather, quality service is the concern of general people who want an efficient railway as well as an effective DCC. ............................................... The writer can be reached at e-mail: shafiqul0032@yahoo.com