A CRITICALLY injured patient in ambulance has reportedly died due to delay in ferry service. The ferry was waiting for an Joint Secretary. Relatives of the patient alleged that the ferry did not leave from Kanthalbari Ghat in Madaripur despite the request of the BIWTC officials and police. The ferry naming ‘Cumilla’ started its trip after waiting for about three hours for the Additional Secretary. But it was too late. The sixth grader Titas Ghosh (13) died before crossing the river. The incident took place on Thursday night.
Titas, a student of Narail’s Kalia Pilot Primary School, was supposed to have an emergency operation at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital. On Wednesday, Titas was injured in a motorcycle accident at the Kalia area of Narail. He was first admitted to a private hospital in Khulna. We see time and time again how ordinary citizens are treated with the same colonial mentality by certain sections of the administration as occurred in British times. Prime examples are blocking the roads for VVIPs and forcing schoolchildren to stay outside in scorching heat or rain to welcome so-called political big shots who need the children to throw flowers at them and call them great.
These examples of high and mighty behaviour behooved our colonial overlords. When we act this way towards our citizens who are supposedly part of a democratic culture then it becomes an act of utter nuisance. Children should not be taught to bow down to their political leaders –this teaches them nothing .Obedience can be earned, never taught.
Here a life was taken simply because the ferry owners feared the wrath of the mighty administration if they did not wait for the secretary. What did it matter that a young man’s life was in the balance? His death meant nothing as he was not a member of the ruling elite. This act of utter callousness compares very well with the bus drivers and helpers who kill, maim, and rape their passengers with impunity.
We can teach a nation to not just respect power but also life. All that needs to be done is for those in the upper echelons of power to act responsibly. This nonsense must stop.
