Every Eid journey starkly exposes the chaos and mismanagement in the country’s road and transport system, showing how citizens are forced to suffer. This year’s Eid travel was no exception.
At the beginning of the holiday, a launch accident at Sadarghat in Dhaka shocked the nation, and at the end, a bus sank in the Padma River at Daulatdia Ghat in Rajbari, plunging the entire country into grief. The massive loss of life in this accident has left us stunned. The tragedy also highlights once again the extreme insecurity and fragility of citizen safety in Bangladesh.
The deaths of 26 people in the Padma at Daulatdia Ghat cannot simply be called an “accident”; this is systemic killing. Following the incident, the Rajbari district administration formed a five-member investigative committee.
But the question remains: over the years, countless investigative committees have been formed, whose reports often gather dust. How did a passenger bus fall into the river at such a critical point like Daulatdia ghat? Was it due to inadequate pontoon safety, insufficient high-mast lighting, or negligence by BWTC staff? Who is responsible? Why were even the minimum safety protocols for boarding ferries ignored?
Surviving passengers allege that while waiting to board the ferry, the bus driver got off, and the helper sat in the driver’s seat. The driver and bus owner must be held accountable after investigation. Allowing the helper to drive only increases the risk of fatalities on the road, and such practices must be stopped immediately.
On the highways, the dominance of unfit vehicles, reckless competition among inexperienced drivers, and mismanagement at ghats has become routine.
During the seven days of Eid travel, repeated accidents on roads—including a horrific train-bus collision in Cumilla—claimed more than two hundred lives. These statistics are a grim record of extreme mismanagement, disorder, and structural negligence during Eid travel.
Each year, the state makes loud claims about “safe travel” before Eid, but the reality shows repeated failure to protect citizens’ lives. The Traffic Police and BRTA cannot evade responsibility for how unfit buses reached the ghats.
Based on the investigation, accountability must extend not only to drivers but also to ghat officials and BRTA officers who allowed unfit buses to operate. Safety must be ensured at every ferry ghat across the country. Locally, some people should be trained to rescue passengers from rivers. Authorities must strictly monitor that passengers disembark from vehicles before boarding ferries.
A central Crisis Management Cell should be established for roads, railways, and waterways, to oversee safety 24/7. Instead of short-term operations before Eid, a year-round zero-tolerance policy must be enforced against unfit vehicles and drivers with fake licenses.
Accidents take away breadwinners from families or leave victims disabled for life. Affected families suffer lifelong consequences. The state must provide not just token compensation, but long-term rehabilitation for the families of the deceased.
If the state and government fail to ensure proper justice and take responsibility for this horrific incident at Daulatdia, such tragedies will continue to rise. It is the government’s responsibility to ensure that no one has to join a procession of corpses while trying to celebrate Eid with their loved ones. There has already been enough mourning—now is the time for strict, decisive action.