Editorial

PM must get to the bottom of it

Airport Road divider fiasco: Inefficiency and lack of coordination par excellence
The Prime Minister getting upset about something is not so uncommon, but taking immediate action on the cause of the annoyance is rare. And that's what Khaleda Zia did on Wednesday when the communications minister reportedly failed to give her a satisfactory reply to her query on dismantling of road dividers at Airport Road. We must laud her for her quick thinking on the matter. When the news reports about the dismantling and recontsruction of the dividers were brought to her notice, she immediately asked the concerned minister and on failing to get an answer decided to visit the spot herself. What was amazing, the minister nonchalantly expressed his ignorance about the whole issue.

This brings some disturbing questions to our mind. Firstly, why and how could the minister feign ignorance when it was his ministry that was doing the work and it had appeared in quite a few dailies with photos. Secondly, if the minister was oblivious of the development, then who was responsible for the work? If wasting money and causing inconvenience to the city dwellers were the prime reasons for stopping work at Airport Road, then why did anyone in the government not raise any question?

The new road dividers have already been erected in almost all parts of the city including the busiest of roads, causing severe congestion on the streets. Is the government trying to tell us that they had not noticed the trouble and traffic jams it's been causing ever since the construction began?

We want to know who was responsible for the lack of coordination regarding the Airport Road work if the person had taken it on without informing the concerned authorities. We also want to know who is accountable for the sheer waste of public money that has already been spent in the project. Lastly we ask -- is there any end to such inefficiency and total disregard for the country's development? May be not, may be we would have to wait for the Prime Minister to get upset again.