An open letter to Obaidul Quader and Suranjit Sengupta

HONOURABLE ministers, we were very happy when you took charge of the two most important ministries, Communication and Railway, last month replacing Janab Abul Hossain who not only annoyed the public by his tall talks and no action but also embarrassed the government by his failure to handle the Padma Bridge issue in a transparent manner.
People were vocal against the inaction of Abul Hossain and wanted his replacement much earlier. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, to everybody's surprise, took much longer than expected in taking a decision on the matter.
However, better late than never, she was finally convinced that he should be removed from the communication ministry and, accordingly, she has not only done that but also rightly divided the ministry into two -- making railway a separate ministry -- and placed two of her party's most veteran leaders in charge of the two ministries.
Honourable ministers, you must not forget this background of your elevation to this position. You must not also forget that you too were also very vocal against the inaction and indifference of the communication ministry towards addressing the public sufferings that reached beyond any limit of tolerance.
It is now your turn to prove by your action that you had valid reasons to cry hoarse against the inaction of the government on certain issues, especially of the communication sector. You have to really show by your deeds that you believe in action, not in tall talk.
Every other day your predecessor would appear before the television camera and tell us about a new project that his ministry was going to implement. He would tell us today of Padma Bridge, tomorrow about metro rail, the next day of an elevated expressway. We listened to his lullaby and went to sleep, only to wake up next morning and realise that it was but a day-dream. We don't want to be fooled by these lullabies any more. We have had enough of dreams.
What we want now are actions that will address the day-to-day sufferings of the public in the transport sector. We want to see some pragmatic steps taken by your departments so that the people can be relieved of the constant fear and agony of scarcity of transport facilities on one hand and traffic jam, road accidents and abnormally high transport cost on the other.
Because of lack of planning, negligence, corruption and utter indifference towards the needs of the people from people that mattered most at the policy and the implementation level of the successive governments of the past, the communication and transport sector is now a complete mess.
Rail and river transport which were once the lifelines of the communication sector have been neglected on purpose by our rulers, policy makers and planners. They have preferred serving the interest of the vested quarters to that of the people and paid all their attention to the development of the road sector, leaving river and rail communication to gradually shrink and die.
The result is what we see now -- anarchy in the transport sector. Roads and highways are narrow, dilapidated and unsafe, needing huge fund for repair and expansion that the country can ill afford. Traveling has become hazardous. Everyday, on average, 18 persons are losing their lives in road accidents. Traffic jams in the cities are making the lives of the city dwellers hell. Transport cost is all time high. Extortion is the order of the day.
It is heartening to note the prime minister has realised the importance of the railway sector, made it a separate ministry and given charge of the ministry to a veteran leader like Suranjit Sengupta. We hope he will do his best and justify the trust and confidence she has reposed on him
As for the honourable minister for communication, sir, you have so many jobs to take care of. You have to repair and expand the country's national highways and minimise the road accidents. You have to repair the bridges. You have to ease the traffic congestion of the cities, stop extortion and convince the bus and truck owners not to overload their vehicles and charge fare higher than the rate fixed by the government.
You have also to implement projects like Padma Bridge, metro rail, elevated expressway, flyovers and so on. It is undeniably a Herculean task and certainly not possible to complete in the present term of your government. But if you can even start the construction work of these projects within this period it will be a great job.
At the age of 66, as a citizen of Dhaka city, I have only the following demands to the honourable ministers:
* Repair and construct footpaths and free them from all sorts of obstacles so that the pedestrians can walk without any anxiety. If people can smoothly walk on the footpaths, demand for rickshaws will be greatly diminished and that will certainly help in easing the traffic jams;
* Rickshaw and CNG are the only modes of transport for the middle or limited income people residing in the city. Both have become too costly. Rickshaws are considered one of the main causes of traffic jam. They are also considered health hazard for those pulling them and need to be gradually phased out. Alternative is an efficient and rapid mass transport system, but it will take time to build it. Till then why not have sufficient number of CNGs and taxicabs and ensure that they run on meter?
* A shuttle train service from Gazipur to Narayanganj via Dhaka should ply every 15 minutes.
The writer is a retired Merchant Navy Officer. Email: [email protected]