Death of Teen on Ferry: Probe body finds joint secretary ‘responsible’
A probe body formed by the shipping ministry has found Joint Secretary Abdus Sabur Mondal indirectly responsible for the ferry delay which led to the death of Titash Ghosh, 13, in an ambulance on its way to Dhaka in July.
Mondal talked to ghat (terminal) manager Salam Hossain over cellphone several times, he reached the ferry terminal after a long delay and was liable for keeping the ferry waiting for a long time, and therefore, cannot avoid the responsibility for the delay of the ferry, according to the report.
The three-member probe body -- headed by Additional Secretary of the Shipping Ministry Sanjay Kumar Banik -- yesterday sent the probe report to the attorney general’s office for submitting it to the High Court, where a writ petition filed in this connection is pending.
Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Abdullah-Al-Mahmud Bashar, who received the probe report, told The Daily Star he would submit it to the HC today.
Citing the report, he said the shipping ministry’s probe body has found four ghat officials directly responsible, and joint secretary Mondal indirectly responsible for the delay of “Ferry Cumilla” at Kathalbari terminal in Madaripur on July 25.
The four officials are ghat manager Salam Hossain, its marginal assistant Khokon Miah, upper division assistant group chief Firoz Alam, and inland master Shamsul Alam, DAG Bashar said.
Earlier, another probe body -- headed by Additional Secretary of the Cabinet Division Rezaul Hasan -- had said in a report that it did not find any logical grounds to hold Joint Secretary Abdus Sabur Mondal responsible for the ferry delay.
In its report, the three-member probe body had said three officials at the Kathalbari Ferry Terminal in Madaripur may be blamed for delaying “Ferry Cumilla” that day -- Salam Hossain, Khokon Miah, and Firoz Alam, the report said.
That report has already been submitted to the HC, during a hearing of the same writ petition filed by Advocate Md Jahir Uddin Limon, chairman of rights organisation Legal Support and People’s Rights, seeking Tk 3 crore compensation for Titash’s family.
Titash, a student of Kalia Pilot Secondary School in Narail, was critically injured in a motorbike accident in the district on July 24.
A day later, doctors of a local hospital referred him to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for an emergency surgery.
The family was taking him to Dhaka in an ambulance, which arrived at the Kathalbari Ferry Terminal around 8pm on July 25.
The ferry was already at the pontoon, but its gate was closed and it was not loading vehicles. Authorities said they were waiting for the arrival of Abdus Sabur Mondal, the head of Digital Service and Public Service Innovation Cluster and E-Service Implementation Specialist of the Access to Information (a2i) Programme at the Prime Minister’s Office. The ambulance was stuck on the pontoon and could not reverse or shift to another hospital because of the queue of vehicles in front of and behind it.
The ferry started loading vehicles at 10:20pm when authorities learned that Sabur Mondal was nearby. Around 11pm, he arrived and the ferry started moving. Titash died on the ferry, his family said.