In what can only be described as a complete lack of coordination between different departments, 150 metres of a 2.5km concrete road have sunk into the Kumar River in Kazi Kandia area of Nagarkanda Upazila. This has happened because of unplanned excavation of the Kumar River, rendering the road completely unusable and leaving thousands of residents of the area in a fix. What we would like to know is why the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) did not bother to coordinate this activity with the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) before embarking on the project.

This is but one example of many projects that suffer due to lack of proper inter-agency coordination. This is typical of some government departments which seldom bother to attend coordination meetings, and this lack of cooperation and coordination shows up in such ridiculous situations. Now that the road has collapsed, we are informed that the BWDB intends to dump geo-textile bags to protect the road. This is like prescribing paracetamol to treat cancer. We do not hear anything about holding anyone accountable for this blunder. By the looks of it, there won't even be a departmental enquiry because this is a road situated far away from the media spotlight. The sad fact of the matter is that such unplanned activity is costing the people a lot of hassle in terms of transportation, and the state the money. Shouldn't those responsible be held to account and made examples of?