Death of children in Rautahat
First it was Binita Phuyal who lost her life when she was swept away by sewerage drain in Nepaltar of Kathmandu three weeks ago. Prime Minister sprang into action by directing the concerned authorities to fill in all potholes in Kathmandu roads within 15 days. The deadline expired on July 31, a number of potholes remain gaping at the pedestrians. And now four young children have lost their lives in Rautahat: Sunaina Kumari, 9, Sangeeta Kumari, 12, Sunita Kumari, 9, and Susmita Kumari, 9. We extend our heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family and pray for the departed souls of the angels.
Tragedy of the Commons
The culprits of this crime are none other than the agencies the state has entrusted to carry out road construction works and the construction agents who are offered contract for the same. Both have failed us miserably to the point that deaths by falling into the potholes or pits have started to be reported with frequency. This is the tragedy of epic proportions. Our local government and the contractors involved in road project must be tried in the court of law. We just cannot keep on losing our young children like this.
We have been repeatedly drawing the attention of the government bodies and the concerned agencies to complete road construction works on time through this space. We have exposed the nexus of politicians, bureaucrats and contractors in public procurements. Yet the concerned agencies of the state have kept silent. This is a true mockery of Loktantra that we all fought so hard to bring back in 2006. Our politicians and businesses have colluded to cripple our system. No one takes the responsibility when four children die in broad daylight due to mere negligence of contractors working on the particular road project. We have not heard from any of the concerned agencies and no one has taken the responsibility.
Lawmakers in the parliament raised the issue yesterday and demanded compensation for the family of the victims. Their concern for the bereaved family is valid but they are missing a key point here. The core issue is accountability and responsibility of the stakeholders. Allowing the politicians to eclipse the core issue of this tragedy—flagrant negligence toward duties by the concerned bodies to ensure completion of construction works on time—by offering some compensation money to the victim family will only help them gloss over the issue and keep the nexus between contractors and politicians alive. Those involved in this grave crime may go unpunished. We demand a thorough investigation on the issue and make this a test case so that other contractors across the country won’t dare repeat the same mistake in future. For the sake of the people who silently endure humiliation, corruption and everything else in between, we ask the government and the local authorities to end such collusion in public projects so that we don’t have to die unwanted deaths. The situation whereby the common people have to lose their lives simply for utter negligence of duty by the government bodies must come to an end, once and for all.
