Shahadat Hossain Selim, BNP’s member of parliament for Lakshmipur-1 (Ramganj), has said dark days await the country.
He made the remarks in a post on his verified Facebook account Sunday night. Raising the issue of public suffering from a prolonged traffic jam on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway, he questioned the administration’s role.
Shahadat Hossain Selim said: “It seems clear to me that an influential section of the administration has become desperate to prove this government a failure. If this irresponsible clique is not identified and dealt with firmly right now, dark days await us ahead. Taking swift, exemplary action against the officials responsible for causing public suffering and gross irresponsibility is now the demand of the hour.”
Since Friday night, a severe traffic jam lasting 32 straight hours developed on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway, from Chandina to Ashariarchar in Narayanganj. Ordinary passengers faced extreme suffering as a result. Shahadat Hossain Selim noted in his post that a patient died after their ambulance got stuck in the prolonged jam, and that several expatriates missed their scheduled flights after failing to reach the airport on time.
To investigate the cause of the suffering, National Parliament whip A B M Ashraf Uddin Nizan held an emergency meeting with relevant officials. The meeting, held over Zoom, included the deputy commissioners (DCs) and superintendents of police (SPs) of Cumilla and Narayanganj, the superintendent of highway police, and executive engineers from the Roads and Highways Department.
Shahadat Hossain Selim said he sat beside the whip and observed the entire meeting. He claimed that despite such enormous public suffering, he saw no remorse or accountability among the responsible officials.
In his account, even on an important matter like bridge repair work, the Roads and Highways Department’s executive engineer, the highway police superintendent, and the Cumilla deputy commissioner had no advance information. He called this lack of coordination and accountability among officials alarming.
Shahadat Hossain Selim claimed that, seeing the situation, whip A B M Ashraf Uddin Nizan expressed anger and frustration. He said the public should have been notified through a public notice before the bridge repair work began. He noted that advance publicity through newspapers, television news tickers and social media could have allowed passengers to use alternative routes, avoiding such suffering.
The whip later spoke with the chief engineer of the Roads and Highways Department. There, too, Shahadat Hossain Selim claimed in his post, no positive sense of accountability was evident.
He concluded by saying that swift, exemplary punishment is needed against the responsible officials for causing public suffering and gross irresponsibility.
Shahadat Hossain Selim later explained his remarks to reporters. He said he was heartbroken seeing the public’s suffering. He said he had spoken multiple times with the relevant administrative officials to get the road work finished quickly, but seeing no results, he posted on social media out of frustration and disappointment.
He said: “I am pained seeing the public’s suffering. I spoke repeatedly with the relevant people to get the work done quickly. But nothing has worked. In the end, out of heartfelt distress, I posted that status on social media.”
Shahadat Hossain Selim was formerly chairman of Bangladesh LDP. He dissolved his own party and joined BNP ahead of the 13th national parliamentary election.