A luxury passenger coach reached Dhaka at 4 am Saturday morning ending a night run from Chittagong. As is usual, the passengers would not venture oiit into the city at that hour — because of lack of transport and a surfeit of insecurity — and stayed back to doze off the hours remaining before daybreak. The 40 feet by 10 Saudia counter had right then the electric short circuit and an all-consuming fire followed killing two. Ten other rs were hospitalised with serious burn injuries.

One very dependable measure of a civilised so-(ial existence is predictability of life — and death. Death does not lurk everywhere — specially avoidable death. Preventing avoidable deaths should be one of the top concerns of our society, government and state.

Shall we call the Fakirerpool bus counter deaths and lifelong disfigurements an accident? Why was the counter — a place of public concourse and a closed space haring a high degree of fire risk, was not constructed with that risk in the mind? None of these bus counters and a thousand others similar closed spaces of public assembly generally are covered against fire risk. Why? There can be no acceptable answer. •

And, evidently,, there were no fire extinguishers. Why? Why was the place completely shut up? Why those who run the place forgot their charge and went to sleep? And finally and unbeatably a question looms above all else: why do buses have to reach Dhaka at 4 am? Why shouldn't they depart and arrive later?

The Dhaka-Chittagong buses have set a model for the national communication sector to follow. This is very much in their power to extend their cares beyond proriding hitherto unfamiliar facilities and comforts to cutting down risks to the life of passengers. In fact, lite latter should have been valued more than the former.

We call upon both the government transport authority as well as the bus companies themselves to do the needful in the matter without the need of outside pressuring and without any further delay.