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Death doesn't wake them up

STAFF CORRESPONDENT
Eight days after the worst launch disaster in the country that killed nearly 400 people, the authorities have done little to bring some discipline in the water transport sector, riddled with various problems.
The committee formed to probe the May 3 disaster in the Meghna failed to submit its report yesterday, the deadline. Minister for Shipping Col (Retd) Akbar Hossain yesterday said it would take another two or three days to submit the report.
Despite warnings from naval architects that hundreds of vessels are plying with structural and design faults, not a single one has been inspected or their owners penalised so far. This is exposing thousands of passengers to life risk.
During a visit to Sadarghat yesterday, all kinds of launches, big and small, were seen leaving the terminal without any check by officials. Every day, about 200 vessels arrive and leave the largest river port in the country.
The crowd of passengers was usual and launches were leaving the terminal overloaded with passengers and goods. None of the launches had adequate number of lifebuoys and there was no urgency whatsoever among BIWTA staff at Sadarghat to implement navigation laws, which make having adequate number of lifebuoys mandatory.
A source in the Department of Shipping told The Daily Star that they already have a list of passenger vessels plying with gross deviations in structures. He said the department has started procedures to take action against those vessels now carrying thousands of passengers.
However, the department does not have any immediate action plan to stop the dangerous practice by the vessel owners and their staff.
The only official step till yesterday since the disaster is that the shipping ministry verbally asked the Bangladesh Inland Tarnsport Authority (BIWTA) and the Department of Shipping to submit a proposal on 'how to improve the sector and ensure passengers' safety.
It was not clear when the BIWTA and the Department of Shipping would submit the proposal. But meanwhile the BIWTA has got included in the next budget its proposal to buy two large 800-ton salvage units costing about Tk 150 crore. The government is now trying to procure a loan to buy the salvage units.
Commenting on the faulty designs and structures of passenger vessels, BIWTA officials yesterday said their responsibility ends with approval of design of a vessel. The moment the approval procedure is completed, it is up to the surveyors of the Department of Shipping to issue fitness certificates and make random checking of vessels plying on different routes.
BIWTA officials said the government infrastructure to check and control the water transport sector is itself based on a faulty setup. They said responsibilities to check overloading, faulty structure and various other irregularities causing passenger safety must lie with one agency ---- not multiple agencies.
When contacted last night, the BIWTA chairman said the govern-
ment is seriously considering reallocating responsibilities in the water transport sector. He said BIWTA is now preparing its own proposal and will submit it to the ministry soon.
Other BIWTA officials said, with the present resources, it is not possible to check overloading. Once vessels leave Sadarghat or Barisal ports, those are virtually under no control whatsoever. Officials can force a launch to leave one of these large terminals with capacity passengers but the greedy staff can stop it at a small station and take as many passengers as they like because BIWTA does not have any office there to check.
Most people feel that following the May 3 disaster, the government should have taken some immediate steps. But there is hardly any concern among the authorities to bring changes by taking immediate measures. The business of carrying thousands of passengers on these badly built vessels continues as usual despite risks of major disasters anytime anywhere.