With several riverine accidents in haor areas in recent past exposing defiance of rules, worries continue to prevail among people there as the owners of light water vessels like trawlers and boats ply through the country’s haor regions flouting rules to fear more accidents in waterways.
Serious frequent accidents in haor regions that claimed many livesunder the nose of authority concerned are highlighting failure of strict maintenance of rules and regulations to minimize accidents on waterways.
Although the country's tourist spots have not been fully opened due to the corona virus situation, there have been reports of accidents in the haor areas for some time now. There are frequent deaths due to boat sinking while people going around haors.
17 people died when a boat sank in a haor in Netrokona's Madan upazila on August 5. Due to mismanagement of naval communication, there are frequent incidents of boat sinking and loss of lives, people claimed.
The number of deaths due to natural calamities in the country's vast waterways is not less. The manner in which the trawler sank in Netrokona'shaor is nothing but the result of unresponsiveness. Had the people concerned complied with the rules and prohibitions, the sad incident that claimed many lives on this way could not have happened.
Accidents often happen in Sunamganj, which is known as the district of haors. In July and August, about five people died in boat capsizesin Tahirpur, Chatak and Dharmapashaupazilas of Sunamganj district.
Almost 11 upazilas of Sunamganj district are haor based. Ordinary people use the waterways in village markets, unions and upazilas for necessary work. The people of haor think that even though there are specific rules for the movement of transport by road, there is no guidelines for waterways. For this reason, trawlers or boatmen carry as many passengers as they want. That is why riverine accidents are happening.
Social activist Abu Taherfrom Sylhet said that, “To prevent such accidents on the waterways in haor regions, it is necessary to check the fitness of the trawlers or boats, ensure the carrying capacity of the passengers and also the life jackets for the safety of the passengers.”
“It is also important for the local administration to formulate regulations for passenger safety as well as revenue collection from the jetties. Otherwise, it is not possible to prevent the loss of lives on the waterways,” he added.
Deputy Commissioner of Sunamganj district, Mohammad Abdul Ahad said, "We have always been conducting awareness campaigns for boat owners and sailors. Each passenger trawler has been instructed to carry life jackets.”
Earlier, 2 tourists were killed in several accidents in haor areas of Kishoreganj. Among them, a tourist died while swimming in the haor area of Nikli. Another tourist died in a boat accident in a haorunderBajitpurupazila.
However, waterways are the best mode of transportation for the people of the coastal areas of South Bengal, northern haors and riverine areas of the country. Once there were rivers, canals, lakes and haorsin the country totaling about 24,000 kilometers of waterways.
Among them, the Inland Waterways Authority of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority surveyed the coastal and inland waterways of Bangladesh from 1962 to 1967 with the help of the Netherlands and took measures to protect a total of 13,770 km of navigable waterways.
Subsequently, due to the gradual fall of silt in the river, the navigability was reduced to 5,995 km in 1988. Poor people living in coastal, haor and riverine districts are crossing this wide waterway every day for their daily needs and their number is increasing day by day.
Experts think that as human pressure on waterways increases, so the coordination of government agencies, strong oversight and management and proper enforcement of laws, can reduce accidents on different haors and save lives.
