SHIPPING Minister Shajahan Khan has come out in favour of amending existing laws to increase the penalty for river accidents. While we welcome such a step being taken, much needs to be done in other, more crucial areas, to bring about better safety measures. It usually takes a tragedy to propel authorities into action. This time round it was the news of some 147 passengers who drowned when their vessel travelling from Shariatpur to Dhaka collided with another vessel in Munishiganj on March 13. We say enough is enough! Together with raising penalties, authorities must move decisively to plug the loopholes in the system to dramatically reduce casualties in human lives on our rivers.

Indeed, if one looks at the number of areas where the laws are not only being not enforced but waved aside merrily, one cannot help but be aghast! It is hardly surprising that we witness the frequent accidents taking place on our waterways when one factors in the following data: large numbers of vessels ply the various routes lack proper design; free loading of passengers beyond capacity is a common practice; and worse of all navigators and pilots of most passenger and cargo vessels have, over time, repeatedly been found to be lacking in requisite skills or possessing mandatory licenses needed to operate such vessels. Given such appalling facts, is it not time we woke up to certain realities? That it is not a matter of amending a law here or increasing fines there; on the contrary, it has everything to do with enforcement of laws and if need be increase the strength of the regulatory authority which in this case is the Department of Shipping. It has to carry out