Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa's three-day visit to Bangladesh can properly be looked at as a boost to bilateralism. The fact that as many as five memoranda of understanding have been signed --- in such crucial areas as trade, agriculture, fisheries, vocational education and science and culture testifies to the various possibilities of cooperation open before the two countries. As part of South Asia, indeed as members of SAARC, Colombo and Dhaka have been significant players in the region. The requirement now is for them to carry forward the spirit of bilateralism in a way that will further strengthen the links among SAARC nations.
The five MoUs are certainly an assertion of the way Bangladesh-Sri Lanka ties are poised to develop. The expectation is that these MoUs will take relations between the two countries to new heights of bilateralism at an active level. In this context, President Rajapaksa's emphasis on the need for strong political relations is a matter to be pondered by the leadership of the two countries. The president's discussions with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina focused necessarily on combating terrorism, which is just as well given the difficulties both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have faced as a result of extremism, albeit at different levels. Cooperation in dealing with and snuffing out terrorism in the two countries can be looked upon as a test case, the results of which could be applied to tackling terrorism in the SAARC region as a whole. There is too the matter of food security which Dhaka and Colombo, in league with other countries in the region, should be giving serious consideration to.
An all-important issue for Bangladesh and Sri Lanka is establishing direct air and marine connectivity, a point pertinently raised by the Bangladesh prime minister. Such a step will not only be a spur to greater people-to-people links but also yield encouraging results through promoting trade between the two nations. At a time when the nations of Europe and the Americas are exploring newer grounds of economic cooperation, it is vital that twenty six years after the founding of SAARC, the countries of South Asia break new ground in economic and political cooperation before they can break bread together.
Our traffic problem is more due to lack of management than oft discussed structural weaknesses. This is one sector where the government has been facing the toughest of challenges. Frankly, poor management of traffic is fast turning out into the governments Achilles' heels.
So far various measures were put into operation but these fizzled out as soon as they were attempted to be enforced. Steps taken so far were introduction of three-lane system in main thoroughfares, operating electronic signals, withdrawal of buses and minibuses more than 15 years old, enforcing use of seat-belts, helmets, barring people from using cell phones while driving and having the pedestrians take footbridges or underpasses. The main reason of the moves drawing a blank was lack of adequate homework, flawed planning and above all very poor management.
It is obvious that apart from some short-lived adhoc moves; the authorities seemed to have their eyes set on long and midterm solutions. If they would have concentrated on some immediate short term measures they could have regulated the traffic to a point of public tolerance.
In this category fall adequate parking spaces, going underground and high-rise, ordering the unfit vehicles out of the streets, linking it to import of new fleet of transport, and clearing out the pavements off small businesses. Phasing out rickshaws and prohibition of stoppages of vehicles at undesignated points could also be important steps in this direction.
Traffic management and implementation of rules need supervised work on the ground level both to infuse efficiency as well as to fight petty corruption which is rampant.
Management skills of the ground traffic personnel ought to be raised and strict enforcement of rules ensured with no compromise at any level. Awareness campaigns may be introduced round the year to educate people on traffic rules instead of occasional traffic weeks which leave no impression whatsoever.
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