THE new plan by the government to diversify passengers into different launch terminals of Dhaka based on their destinations certainly is a good move. Especially since the step is being taken prior to the next Eid-ul-Azha festival when number of homebound passengers is, quite expectedly, many times higher than normal period. This will definitely reduce the pressure on Sadarghat, the only terminal in Dhaka. We are also happy to learn that the move is going to be a permanent one, before the festival seasons every year. We hope the government will not waste any time to approve the plan drawn up by the department of shipping.

As it is, overcrowding at Sadarghat terminal, overloading launches with passengers and goods leading to capsizing, has been claiming hundreds of lives during festival seasons in recent times. Though the government had been announcing various measures to minimise the fatalities, it appears very little has been done in this regard. For example decisions like phasing out unfit launches, checking documents of launch masters, redesigning launches - basically taking corrective measures required to safeguard the lives of innocent passengers have all fallen through.

Mainly because there are influential groups of vested interests in the business itself who want to continue with the malpractice. But we would like to remind them that ensuring passenger safety should be their topmost priority, not making profits through illegal means that put lives of innocent people in grave risk. We wouldn’t like to see a repeat of the most devastating launch capsize of recent time in July 2003 when hundreds of passengers perished. And that's why the government should realise that though taking sporadic measures to reduce accidents may work on short term, this alone can not solve the total problem. We demand that a comprehensive safety plan for the launch passengers to be put in place and most importantly implemented.