Star Diary

An Exemplary Initiative

Last week, I met a woman who is a nurse at Chilmari Health Complex in Kurigram. Her only daughter, Dristi, is an autistic child. There is no doubt that the child deserves to grow up like any other child. But, there is no institution in Kurigram where the child can get the care she needs. She also informed me that a large number of disabled and autistic children in this region are leading a very miserable life. Parents are worried about the future of these children but they are helpless.

However, the nurse I met decided to do something for her baby girl. She struggled and finally succeeded in setting up a school for disabled children. She said, "I had no savings to start with but I regarded it as my social responsibility." After a long struggle with the help of some like-minded people, she founded her dream school named Rikta Akter Banu (Lutfa) Buddhi Protibondi Biddalaya.

Now, there are 84 autistic and disabled children taking lessons from this school. There are 10 teachers in the school who work completely for free. Moreover, each of them contributes Tk 500 every month to the school fund. The students are given candies and crackers everyday. The woman also proudly informed me that six children, who could not talk before, have learned to talk now in the school. I also learned that it has become difficult for her to cover the rising expenditure of the school with her limited income. I was really moved by such a philanthropist enterprise. I think that affluent people around the country have a lot to learn from the people who run the school.

Md Azam Khan
Uttara Bank Ltd, Kurigram

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Digging Roads in Rain

	Photo: Star File

It is awfully inconvenient when the busiest streets of Dhaka are dug for miles at a stretch! Monster sewer pipes are occupying two thirds of most of the streets, causing bottleneck . It seems that the digging will go on forever. The traffic gridlock on the roads has literally become unbearable. I don't understand why on earth the authorities started this digging when they know that monsoon is approaching soon. Couldn't they begin a few months earlier? They could have completed the work with less trouble if they had started before winter.

In some places, the streets have become such a mess that not an inch is left for the pedestrians. There are big holes and piles of mud and sands on the middle of the streets everywhere in Dhaka now. Moreover, frequent rains have made it quite impossible for the workers to proceed with the projects. It's strange that the authorities don't even have the slightest consideration for public suffering.

Md Anisuzzaman Sarker
Mutual Trust Bank Limited
Dhaka

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A Risky Practice

The other day, after office, while I was waiting for a Mirpur bound bus on the pavement near The Daily Star office at Kawran Bazar area, I noticed a young couple waiting for buses. They looked completely exasperated. They were constantly raising their hands at the buses to make them stop. Finally, a speeding bus arrived and slowed down a little. The girl hastily got into it but the boy failed to make it and the driver sped up. The boy started running to catch the bus. At last, he somehow managed to grab a handle of the bus door, but the vehicle was running so fast that the boy slipped and fell on the street. For a moment, I thought he would be crushed under the wheel of the bus. Only by the mercy of God did the boy survive the accident. I call on the readers of the Star not to try to get on a speeding vehicle risking their lives. We should always keep in mind that there is nothing more valuable than our own lives.

Md Farooque Hossain Kamrul
Thakral Information Systems

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