Obaidul's Dilemma

Communication Minister Obaidul Quader visits the repair works on the Bangabandhu Multipurpose Bridge.

Road Transportation and Bridge Minister Obaidul Quader 's image of a tough task master may have mellowed , thanks to ramming his head against a wall of indifference. Yet he never flinches from making a moral point as something of a compulsive teacher when an opportunity presents itself.

With all appreciation for his strong moral fibre and supervisory fiesta, one may not help wonder if he is being a little escapist here. One can understand his frustrations literally etched on cratered chunks of highways he could do very little about despite his crying hoarse over it. This is not to gloss over though, his persistence with railways, road transporters and launch operators to be as compliant with time- tables as far as practicable during the religious festivals.

His latest salvo is directed against an abuse of identity. In a callous exhibition of VIP culture reflected through minions , Obaidul Quader notes that domestic workers of Members of Parliament, are merrily riding the cars with MP stickers on them. According to him, this amounts to denigration of parliament and an affront to the oath that swears in an MP. His emphasis is a bit misplaced because the blame should be largely placed at the precincts of the authority that had issued more than 3000 stickers for 350 MPs in the first place. In the second, it begs a question that the MPs may have indented for that many stickers, or some followers of MPs did it, or indeed, like it takes one clap to break into applause, it was started by a few and then picked up by many. The question remains: How could the transport pool authority have issued so many stickers completely blind-folded to their abuse? Actually, the minister may have unwittingly spilled the beans here; for, it fosters a doubt in the public mind as to whether 3000 cars get used by the MPs or their associates. Clearly, there is an issue for clarification to remove any misgiving in the public mind.

The writer is Associate Editor, The Daily Star.