The chaotic situation of the public transport system in Bangladesh gets starkly visible every year during two biggest Muslim religious festivals – Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Adha – when an increased number of passengers are bound to their village homes from cities. Regardless of the road or the water way, accidents seem to be a companion for home-goers. Amid strict restrictions in the country this year owing to the Covid pandemic, long-route public transports remain closed but the movement of people is not stopped. People are moving in alternative ways. With the Eid-ul-Fitr coming up in a few days, this public movement keeps on the rise. Every year during Eid, a kind of uncertainty and obstacle is created for the homebound people. Unavailability of transports on time, carrying passengers more than the capacity, extra fare, etc are witnessed. In such a scenario, the public sufferings have been exacerbated this year due to restrictions on public transports amid the pandemic. The loss of 27 lives during an accident between a passenger-laden speedboat and a bulkhead on the Padma on Monday is the result of this chaotic situation.
According to the Department of Shipping and the Accident Research Institute (ARI) of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, 942 passengers have gone missing in shipping accidents in the country in the last 16 years. Of these, 692 have gone missing in the last five years alone. The highest number of missing passengers occurred in 2019 when 244 people went missing in 151 boat accidents. Apart from this, 15 passengers went missing in 2016, 118 in 2018, 237 in 2020 and 78 passengers in 14 accidents till May 3 this year. In the last five years, there have been 361 marine accidents across the country, killing 542 people and injuring 316 others.
With the data having been mentioned above, the very first question about the safety of the marine way comes to the fore. In this respect, fit vessels, skilled sailors and favourable weather conditions are crucial to reduce the risk of accidents on the waterway. The chairman of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) says they are working to keep the waterways of the country safe. But the extent they are working is hardly visible. He also blames the unawareness of the ship owners and passengers for the reason of the accidents but avoids their responsibility as the authority. We hardly see the provision of giving fitness certificates considering the design, carrying capacity, technical aspects, route, etc of each passenger or cargo vessel is not fully functional in the country. Passenger launches are seen having a few buoys and some life jackets, but neither the authorities nor the launch owners have any worries about how those should be used if the vessels carrying hundreds of passengers fall in an accident.
Meanwhile, illegal speedboats have been plying the Padma without any approval for years and often small and big accidents are happening. The shipping authorities cannot avoid their responsibility for the accidents. It is also important to ensure proper monitoring by and accountability of regulatory authorities in case of both road mishaps and marine accidents.
