Student’s death in Rampura not merely an accident: Obaidul Quader
Road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader on Wednesday said death of a student in a road accident in city’s Rampura was not merely an accident because at least 15 buses were set on fire within 10 minutes after spreading of the accident news, reports BSS.
"It is a question to the conscience of the nation whether it was a repetition of BNP-Jamaat's past violent activities . . . is it a mere accident or it is a pre-planned incident," said Quader while speaking virtually from his residence at a seminar.
Ruling Awami League's science and technology sub-committee organised the seminar on ‘5G: the frontier technology’ with committee chairman professor Hossain Munsur in the chair.
Expressing deep shock and sorrow at the death of a student in Rampura road accident, Quader, also general secretary of Awami League, said according to witnesses the incident took place at around 10.45pm and within 12 minutes of the incident, live presentation was made in the Facebook page of 'Nirapad Sarak Chai' from the spot. Immediately after it, 15 vehicles were set on fire and a number of vehicles were vandalised, he added.
He said the accident news was published in Jamaat-run telegram channel at 11:00pm which was immediately spread in different social media.
"How was the news presented live in the page of Nirapad Sarak Chai so fast? Did they take preparation prior to the incident to do it? How Bansherkella (a pro-Jamaat-e-Islami Facebook page) got all the news within 15 minutes and 15 vehicles were set on fire within the next 10 minutes," Quader questioned.
He also questioned how did so many people gather at spot of the accident at 11:00pm. Law enforcement personnel, including police and fire-fighters, could not reach the spot so quickly like the anarchists who reached there. It is also a question that how did a few students reach the spot, he added.
Quader said movement is going on against road accident and those who were becoming victim of road accident now were also students. The government is adamant to bring those who were involved in such accidents to book, he said.
The minister further said the golden Bangla of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman will enter into the 5G era as prime minister's ICT adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy will launch 5G service experimentally on 12 December. The government's mobile telephone operator Teletalk will run the service experimentally, he added.
Awami League's science and technology affairs secretary and member secretary of the sub-committee engineer Md Abdus Sabur, vice-chancellor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Digital University professor Munaz Ahmed Noor and Teletalk Bangladesh managing director Md Sahab Uddin, among others, spoke at the seminar.
Canadian University of Bangladesh vice-chancellor professor Muhammad Mahfuzul Islam presented the keynote paper at the seminar.