Death of a boy
The heartbreaking death of Hamim Sheikh, the latest victim of reckless driving in the city, has apparently brought out the grim picture of road-hazards that we encounter every day. The distressing demise of the five years old boy of Willes Little Flower School has explicitly underscored the “cheapness” of human life in a country like Bangladesh. It's a country where in all sectors we have sheer lack of legal standards and effective implementation of law. Astounding facts are now coming out regarding unfit vehicles, fake driving licenses and unbelievable statistics of road accidents in the city. It appears that the relevant authorities that were supposed to take vital steps regarding these irregularities, have been sleeping in seclusion for long. I really don't know what initiatives (if any) our current and previous governments have taken so far to rectify this trend of mismanagement in public transport. I think we certainly have the right to be served well by our elected representatives.
These tragic accidents might seem like isolated incidents that are not related to broader political issues. However, if we carefully look into these sad incidents we will discover the fact that from our sycophant ministers to the inept law enforcers, everyone is more or less responsible for this naked “culture of irresponsibility”. I think there must be strict laws to punish the owners of the unfit buses and the employers of untrained drivers as these greedy businessmen do not hesitate to make extra profit by risking people's lives. We must make them realize that they cannot always get away with their repeated violation of law. The unfit vehicles, reckless driving and an utterly disordered transport sector are nothing but some of the natural consequences of the perpetual trend of corruption, administrative inefficiency and absence of proper implementation of law in Bangladesh.
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