Quader finds Rajib too responsible

Obaidul Quader
Obaidul Quader

Road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader on Wednesday suggested Rajib Hossain, who succumbed to his injuries a few days after a road accident, might also have been responsible for his life's sad end as well.

"The accident has nothing to do with the condition of the road. The drivers and the passengers are responsible. That boy (Rajib) might have been at fault as well. He probably stood somewhere he should not have," Quader said while inspecting a mobile court of Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation in the city's Hatirjheel area.

A second-year undergraduate student of Titumir College, Rajib was travelling on a double decker BRTC bus on 3 April. He was standing at the doorway at the back of the bus with his hand partially out, when another bus recklessly overtook, severing his hand. The accident took place in the city's Karwan Bazar area.

He died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital early Tuesday.

"I see an important newspaper blaming it on mismanagement of the roads. What does it have to do with road management?" Quader, also the Awami League general secretary, posed a question.

When asked who was responsible for the accident, he said the drivers have to be more careful.

"During the demonstrations in demand for quota reform, the vice chancellor's residence was ransacked. What has the VC to do with quota reforms? This is something like that. The mismanagement of the transport sector is to be blamed. Why would you write about road management?" the minister further said.

When a journalist pointed out that his car was parked on the road, he defended himself by saying, "I will not go on the wrong side of the road. You people have also parked your cars haphazardly. Please do not speak this way. I am someone who has gone a four-kilometre distance in 16 hours, but did not go on the wrong side of the road."

On the tendency of the VIPs to use the wrong side of the road, he quipped, "They will face the music when the Anti-Corruption Commission catches them."