Anyone for waterway safety?

While several quarters in the country were more interested in election results in another country, some of us could not drive out the harrowing images of dead bodies, especially of young children, from the latest launch capsize on the Meghna river.

Sorry to say this, but when so many unnecessary deaths were hanging over a nation, with young children among the victims, certain media houses decided to give priority to the poll triumph in India – something I failed to comprehend.

Facing such a tragedy, no other news should become the top headline for at least three days. By the third day, the incident was quite low among priorities, though this would not have been the case if a socially established person had perished. But then, wealthy or influential people do not use public launches.

As the ill-fated vessel was salvaged from the water, it became evident that this was no boat to withstand seasonal storms, which reportedly caused it to capsize. For the record, launch disasters are not new in Bangladesh. In fact, every year, between March and September, there is at least one such incident where either a collision or a storm results in horrendous loss of human lives.

Again, for the record, there has rarely been a single incident where a disaster-struck water vessel was saved in the last minute due to the timely intervention of rescue crafts, simply because we do not have enough of these specialised boats that can avert tragedy. Those who survive either swim to safety or are saved by residents living on the shore coming to the rescue with their boats. In cases of heavy storms, chances of rescue by fishermen or others are also slim.

What is most reprehensible is the apathy that the authority shows in implementing rigid safety guidelines. The reaction to such accidents has become typecast – images of affected families are shown, the papers and the channels cover the rescue operations plus the heart-wrenching reactions of the distraught relatives, a certain amount of monetary compensation is handed out by officials sporting grim looks, and in a few months, all is forgotten. That is until the next tragedy.

Time and again, papers have run editorials and op-eds asking for indigenously manufactured basic safety features in passenger-carrying vessels on water, but despite so many deaths, launches lack rudimentary life-saving equipment. Come to think of it, if the doomed launch MV Miraj 4 had enough rubber tires, the death toll would have been lower.

After the recent disaster, several experts have raised questions over the conditions of launches that are often in dire states. Reportedly, many parts of the Miraj were coming off during the salvage operation – a testament to its rickety state. It won’t be wrong to say passengers on water have to rely totally on fate because if there is a sudden emergency, immediate rescue facilities are also absent.

Obviously, securing all routes immediately involves huge costs, so the primary emphasis can be on major routes. Surely, if the government can be bold enough to declare that it can raise a substantial amount to construct the Padma Bridge, it can very well make waterways safer. We are also curious as to why development organisations, which have so many poverty eradication programs, hardly ever engage in the improvement of communication systems, especially in the waterways that are plagued by accidents?

To be straightforward – we have too many foreign aid-funded programs for lifting people from poverty. It’s time to divert some development initiatives to sectors where support is needed. Obviously, nothing will happen unless the authority shows a keen interest. The tragedy of this disaster will also fall in that stereotyped cycle, and soon, other events will take over.

The disaster is already “old” news. What most civil society pundits are talking about is how BJP’s win in the Indian elections will impact bilateral relations in the future. We need to ask how many talk shows focused on safety on water after the latest launch disaster.

I am aghast to find that when bodies were being recovered with wails of grieving relatives filling the air, there were jubilant celebrations in certain quarters over the Indian poll results on the belief that a change in government in another country would trickle down to some political benefit locally. When a nation is faced with so many deaths, the collective clarion call should be: To hell with politics!

That woman who is holding the lifeless body of her daughter is on the verge of insanity; that man who swam ashore and is taking home the dead body of his brother travelling with him is speechless in anguish. Let’s try to understand their pain.

It’s funny that no one occupies major public intersections or brings out large rallies vocal with fiery slogans demanding immediate steps to improve safety on waterways. No one observes sit-in protests demanding an explanation for so many lives lost.

Spontaneous uprisings do not happen for common people dying. Are we to understand that they happen solely for political causes with the pretense that it’s fuelled by the masses?