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Pinak-6 lacked safety gears

Helper, greaser were piloting the launch; Shipping Dept allowed it knowingly

Tawfiq ue Ali
The Department of Shipping allowed Pinak-6 to carry passengers even though the vessel neither had a pilot nor an engine driver, according to documents.
The 65-horsepower Pinak-6 launch had to have a certified third-class pilot and an engine driver, according to inland shipping rules.
But a sukani, an assistant to a pilot, was at the helm of the overcrowded launch in a turbulent Padma and the tragic disaster claimed the lives ofmorethanlOO people on August 4.
A greaser, whose job was to grease the engine, was in charge of running the engine when the vessel went down.
Almost all 86 similar vessels that ply the Mawa-Kawrakandi route in the Padma have been running like this for years on end, placing the lives of thousands of people at risk, said a top official of DOS requesting anonymity.
Though mandatory for a trip, the vessel also lacked a stability certificate and a construction supervision certificate by a naval architect validating that it was built as per design, said official sources.
Shipping department Director General Commodore M Zakiur Rahman Bhuiyan admitted that vessel lacked all these.
The vessel, built about 23 years ago in Pirojpur, even lacked lifesaving gears like lifebuoys and life jackets. It was required to have as many life jackets as passengers on board, but it did not have a single one.
Mirza Saifur Rahman, the department's vessel surveyor at Dhaka river port, who issued permits to the vessel, said the Pinak-6 was required to
have 23 lifebuoys for 91 people, including 85 approved passengers and six crew members, at a ratio of one for four.
However, records show that he issued the vessel a 45-day temporary permit mentioning the vessel only had 10 lifebuoys.
The surveyor issued the permit without ensuring updated payment of mandatory government revenue, including survey fees, advance income tax, river disaster trust fund and conservancy fees, said sources at the department.
The trust fund is utilised to com-
pensate victims in case of a disaster.
They permitted the vessel to ply illegally in the name of one Md Abu Bakar Siddique of Munshiganj as owner since February 2009, even though the launch was, according to the vessel's registration certificate, owned by one Md Moniruzzaman Khokon and his wife Kohinoor Zaman Kajol.
Records show that the shipping department surveyor had illegally issued dubious “fitness certificates" to the vessel three times, suppressing the declaration of his survey findings aboutthe vessel.
It was required by the Inland Shipping Ordinance to make a declaration to the department's director general.
Saifur, the surveyor in question, said they allowed passenger vessels to ply without a pilot and an engine driver in violation of the law.
"It has been going on like this for a long time," he said, adding, “I would not be able to enforce the law even if I wanted to due to the owners' pressure."
Interestingly, AKM Fakrul Islam, who is also the department's chief surveyor, said, "It is not illegal to
operate a passenger vessel without a pilot and an engine driver, as we had decided several years ago in the face of owners' pressure.”
Asked about the legal basis of their decision, Fakrul did not make any response. He, however, said pilots and engine drivers show no interest in working on this category of vessels due to poor pay, which is less than Tk 4,000, and there was no accommodation for them on board.
The department's Director General Commodore Zakiur said, "Gross anomalies occurred regard-
ing the issuance of the permit to the Pinak-6."
Asked why they allowed the officer concerned to continue despite obvious gross anomalies and an ongoing enquiry into the Mawa tragedy, Commodore Zakir said, "We have a severe dearth of manpower. How can I run the office if we withdraw or transfer him?"
Saifur, among others, was also held partially responsible for the Meraj-4 disaster in the Meghna in Cazaria of Munshiganj in which 56 people were killed on May 15, said official sources.