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West bengal transport : Waiting for more tragedies?
The boat capsize on Muriganga near Kakdwip a few weeks back that left about 83 people dead and about 70 missing, has once again brought forth the state government's failure to provide dependable means of transport in the Sundarban and the adjoining areas. The mechanised country boat was ferrying nearly 300 people from Hijli at East Medinipur to Kakdwip when it sank. Ministers and politicians, including Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, made a beeline to meet the bereaved families, but did not promise to nail the guilty of the crime of such magnitude. It is largely the state administration's negligence and apathy that led to this accident.
Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity (PBKMS), a non-partisan organisation of agricultural workers, has done a quick survey on transport facilities in 10 blocks of South 24 Parganas — Mathurapur I and II, Canning II, Gosaba, Mandirbazar, Kulpi, Kakdwip, Namkhana, Sagar, Pathar Pratima and Kultali. According to its report, (that was also sent to the Divisional Commissioner of the Presidency range, who is spearheading the enquiry commission), there is only 42 km. railway line and about 300 km. pucca road network for 4500 sq. km. of inhabited areas in Sundarban. The principal mode of travelling to the 37 islands is motorised country boats. Another option is small wooden boats called dinga. The state river transport exists only at Canning and Sagar. (See the table).
In the absence of permanent jetties at most of the stoppages and terminals, passengers are forced to wade through knee-deep water in the crocodile infested rivers to board the boats. The district administration has no system in place to monitor the licenses and transport safety norms for the boats. In the absence of strict norms, the boat owners almost always overload the boats, sometimes upto double the capacity of the boat.
Ditto for the buses. The state run buses ply only on long distance routes. Mijanur Rehman, the general secretary of the PBKMS, told TSI, “Overcrowding, carrying of passengers on the roof and overloading of goods are the common practises with bus operators. It makes travelling dangerous.” Most of the local buses are too old to run even on metalled roads. But they carry passengers on kachcha roads and are often overcrowded. No transport is usually available at night. Interestingly, even the police face shortage of boats, river-ambulances and mobile vans to guard the area or provide emergency services to the people. This has given a free hand to the criminals and the Bangladeshi smugglers and pirates.
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West bengal transport : Waiting for more tragedies?
The boat capsize on Muriganga near Kakdwip a few weeks back that left about 83 people dead and about 70 missing, has once again brought forth the state government's failure to provide dependable means of transport in the Sundarban and the adjoining areas. The mechanised country boat was ferrying nearly 300 people from Hijli at East Medinipur to Kakdwip when it sank. Ministers and politicians, including Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, made a beeline to meet the bereaved families, but did not promise to nail the guilty of the crime of such magnitude. It is largely the state administration's negligence and apathy that led to this accident.
Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity (PBKMS), a non-partisan organisation of agricultural workers, has done a quick survey on transport facilities in 10 blocks of South 24 Parganas — Mathurapur I and II, Canning II, Gosaba, Mandirbazar, Kulpi, Kakdwip, Namkhana, Sagar, Pathar Pratima and Kultali. According to its report, (that was also sent to the Divisional Commissioner of the Presidency range, who is spearheading the enquiry commission), there is only 42 km. railway line and about 300 km. pucca road network for 4500 sq. km. of inhabited areas in Sundarban. The principal mode of travelling to the 37 islands is motorised country boats. Another option is small wooden boats called dinga. The state river transport exists only at Canning and Sagar. (See the table).
In the absence of permanent jetties at most of the stoppages and terminals, passengers are forced to wade through knee-deep water in the crocodile infested rivers to board the boats. The district administration has no system in place to monitor the licenses and transport safety norms for the boats. In the absence of strict norms, the boat owners almost always overload the boats, sometimes upto double the capacity of the boat.
Ditto for the buses. The state run buses ply only on long distance routes. Mijanur Rehman, the general secretary of the PBKMS, told TSI, “Overcrowding, carrying of passengers on the roof and overloading of goods are the common practises with bus operators. It makes travelling dangerous.” Most of the local buses are too old to run even on metalled roads. But they carry passengers on kachcha roads and are often overcrowded. No transport is usually available at night. Interestingly, even the police face shortage of boats, river-ambulances and mobile vans to guard the area or provide emergency services to the people. This has given a free hand to the criminals and the Bangladeshi smugglers and pirates.
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