Did the boy have to die like this?

Titash Ghosh. PHOTO: COLLECTED

We express our horror and extend our deepest condolences to the bereaved family of Titash Ghosh who died on a ferry that was kept waiting at Kathalbari terminal in Madaripur for a government official on July 24. The young boy's life was cut short because the ferry wouldn't move without the VIP despite the pleadings of the young boy's family. Titash was being taken to Dhaka for an emergency operation in an ICU-fitted ambulance from Khulna but the ferry operators refused to prioritise the boy's life over the so-called VIP's need to use the ferry, in this case, an additional secretary heading a department under the Access to Information (a2i) Programme, at the Prime Minister's Office.

While the circumstances of the death are abhorrent, equally detestable is the fact that a ferry had been kept waiting for not one or two but three long hours, subjecting hundreds of people, including the injured boy, to severe distress. This not only betrays a total lack of sensitivity on the part of some government officials, but also exposes their proclivity to throw around the weight of high public offices—in this case the PMO—they work in.  

One often gets to hear a fundamental question which is, who exactly is a VIP in this country? Is it the public servants or the public who pay for their upkeep to be at their service? We have seen a rise in the misuse of this privilege over the years, be it the holding up of a ferry, train or airplane, or the horrid gridlocks people suffer on our roads due to "VIP" movement. Sadly, in this case, a critically injured boy had to pay with his life. Had the ferry not been held up for three hours, perhaps he might have reached Dhaka in time for the treatment needed to save his life. 

It is high time the government issued rules as to what privileges officials can exercise because without such a guideline, similar outrageous and brazen misuse of authority will continue to be exercised to the detriment of the public. The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation is known to provide emergency service to ambulances but this time they failed miserably. The shipping ministry has formed a probe committee and we hope the matter will not merely be a public relations exercise but a serious one with the intent to bring to justice those responsible for the untimely end of a young life. The officer in question must be made an example of.