While in Kolkata I liked the traffic discipline. All the drivers and pedestrians were very much conscious about maintaining traffic discipline. There occurred an accident during my stay in Kolkata when a CNG auto-rickshaw hit a child and injured her critically. The authorities promptly took action through imposing some new restrictions on auto-rickshaws.

But I really disliked the human-hauled rickshaws in Kolkata. True, this is a traditional occupation but it is really inhuman! I didn't ride on those rickshaws because it's painful to witness (mostly) barefooted men running on the street with heavily loaded rickshaws.

Professor M Zahidul Haque

Dean, Faculty of Agriculture

Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University

Dhaka

WB loan and our ego

Following the Padma bridge loan cancellation by the World Bank, some revolutionary economists and social thinkers have been asserting that Bangladesh has both financial and technical capabilities to construct the bridge on her own. In fact, they are suggesting that our country can go on without borrowing from multinational lenders.

At this moment, China is the fifth largest and Brazil is the second largest borrowers of the World Bank. Bangladesh does not lend money to any other countries. But China has lent more money to other developing countries over the past two years than the World Bank. Still China understands the need of borrowing from the World Bank but our revolutionary economists do not.

Our neighbour India has given us one million dollar loan. And at present India is the sixth largest borrower of the World Bank. Our national prestige and patriotism are so high that we feel we do not need borrowing from outside for our development projects.

Some people say, not only we have the financial ability but we also have the technical ability to construct the Padma bridge. Chinese and Korean technologies are so good that the condition of Bangabandhu bridge and Meghna bridge has deteriorated in such a short time!

The British did not have the technology, so the Bhairab Railway Bridge and the Pakshi Railway Bridge, built by them about a hundred years ago, are still as strong as anything. A train can run on them in full speed. The Mughals have built the Mir Kadeem bridge in Munshiganj three hundred years ago, and still that bridge is usable, because they did not have the technology! We have the technology; so often we see news in the papers that bridges built twenty or thirty years back have become unusable.

Faruque Hasan

Uttara, Dhaka