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Launch disaster

Husain Imam
A media reporter covering the southern districts of the country during the Eid holidays might in advance scribble down in his writing pad a news that reads like: M L.... sunk/capsized in the river... near... on... with more than... hundred passengers on board. ... passengers including women and children feared dead and another ... missing. Although the cause of the incident is not instantly known, it is believed to be due to overloading, faulty design and negligence of crew.
The president, the prime minister and the opposition leader have expressed shock and have sent messages of condolence to the bereaved families. The ministry of shipping and IWTA has instituted a three-member inquiry committee to investigate into the matter and report in three days time.
On 80% of the occasions, the reporter is likely to hit the news first. The job
becomes easy for him because he only has to fill up the gaps with the name of the vessel, the date, time and place of occurrence.
It is the same old story on almost every Eid. This time (November 28), it was M.L. Koko that capsized in the Tetulia river near Lalmohon of Bhola with more than one thousand passengers on board. 56 dead bodies have been recovered so far and a similar number are reported missing. Most of the recovered dead bodies were found trapped inside the body of the launch.
The minister for shipping and IWTA has, as usual, assured an inquiry of the incident and punishment of those who were responsible for the incident. It is not, however, clear why the minister was blaming the monopoly business of a company even before an inquiry was conducted.
It is the same old story. Every time such an incident occurs (and it does occur almost every year), the media comes up
with the heartbreaking news and video footages, the editors of newspapers write editorials, the columnists write columns. The government orders a departmental inquiry.
The report of the inquiry committee and action on the part of the government thereafter can also be guessed. The departmental inquiry committee, comprising in most cases those officials who are directly or indirectly responsible for the incident, will blame everybody except themselves. With a mild rebuke to one or two small fries and a few half-hearted measures, the ministry will shelve the report, taking for granted that with the passage of time the public will forget the incident.
As a mariner, apart from sailing across ft the seas of almost all the continents, 1 had the opportunity to serve for nearly a decade, first in the Pakistan River Steamers Ltd (PRS) and then in the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC). the nationalised version of PRS and other river transport companies. They operated nearly 700 vessels of different types, including a sizeable network of passenger vessels.
These passenger vessels, more commonly known as paddle steamers, were originally designed and built during the British period. In my ten years of service (1971-1981) in the inland water transport sector, I have not seen any of them sinking or capsizing. There was only one passenger vessel (I have forgotten the name), the centre, where people also bring out wall magazines.
The Papri Community Resource Centre (CRC), another resource centre at Moddhya Shilamandi, also renders similar services to the rural poor. This correspondent observed that a group of youth were undergoing an elementary computer training course for free to increase their capacity for employment.
This has been possible due to launching of ACCESS Project of DAM, which is funded byCORDAID of the Netherlands.
The project was launched in January, 2007, and will continue till December, 2009. The program is being implemented through 553 Ganokendros and 23 CRCs of 44 unions in eight upazilas of eight districts. A total of 55,300 people are being benefited under the project, resulting in improvement in their lifestyle.
Earlier, people had a tough time in getting VGD-VGF cards, elderly allowance, disabled allowance and other essential services in the project areas. But this year, 3,525 people gotVGD cards, 34, 216 VGF cards, 7,048 elderly allowance, 859 disabled allowance while 12,673 got elementary education. Not only that, 671 school dropouts were readmitted to school and 25 child marriages were prevented.
Apart from this, 227 received computer training, 47 attained mobile servicing
skills, 15 were imparted honey cultivation training, 6,311 others were provided with necessary information relating to health, agriculture and livelihood, 129 got government forms, 660 were connected to service-oriented organisations through cell phone and 240 others were provided with results of public examinations, job information and e-mailing through Internet services.
Moreover, special programs were implemented in six villages of six upazilas in nine different areas with a view to
create illiteracy-free villages.
Computer training was imparted to villagers through 23 community resource centres of 23 unions in six districts.
The project has created a positive change in the backward areas.
According to ACCESS Project Coordinator Komol Kumar Joarder, this is a way to empower poor villagers. It is like a lifeline to rural Bangladesh. DAM has shown great potential to transform the life of rural society, he said.
Z A M Khairuzzaman ts a journalist