A.S.M Riad Arif, SARRC Silver Jubilee Scholar, South Asian University, New Delhi :
The Rally of Death is crossing over the country. The series of road accident could not be stopped, and it took many lives. Day by day it is getting bigger because of the increasing number of population, total road length, reckless driving, and overtaking tendency.
The Government road authority and Law enforcement agencies failed to control the rate which forced the students to take charge of managing traffic. Last few days youth of Bangladesh have done a fantastic job for the road safety. Most of them are under 18 years and have a solid soul of controlling the road. They were very much success on it. They checked the driving license, Fitness certificate and other necessary documents of vehicles perfectly. Even they stopped the cabinet, secretary, and military and police offices and proved that Law is equal for all.
The history of student movement is glorious for the country. In recent past years they have done a tremendous job including Shahbag movement, No Vat on Education movement and others and now for the road safety movement. This is really a revolution.
Road accident is too familiar in Bangladesh. Over 2,400 deaths on roads this year… the actual rate of fatality is likely to be even higher. According to BRTA, there are around 3.3 million registered vehicles in the country, but the number of license holders is only 1.8 million. This is alarming!
We the citizen also responsible for it because the pedestrians have Negligence to use foot over bridges, they have a lacks traffic also. They thing crossing the road with risk is a part of smartness.
Now come to the situation of Dhaka. It’s a tiny city with the vast population. It is the center of everything. Bangladesh is not a decentralized country. So the number of people is increased every day in the city which makes the town imbalanced. University, Cantonment, canals cover a massive area of the city. The city does not have a proper Urbanization plan and transport system. The roads are very narrow and unfit to drive any vehicle.
It’s the high time to think about Dhaka, or the city may collapse because of its high population. A proper urban plan is necessary for the city. Some of the institutions in the city need to shift to other places. The canal needs to escape from the broker.
The students teach a perfect lesson to the Authority how to manage the traffic of the city. I think the Government should officially appreciate their voluntary effort and must not stop them. The Government should punish its corrupted minister and officials. The students are the future of the country. We should have a promise to build a better city for them.