YET another death of a child from falling into a hole dug for a deep tube-well at Raozan in Chattogram exposes a criminal failure of the authorities to address a menace that has already claimed many lives. It also exposes systemic and institutional neglect to people’s safety. A three-year-old child fell into an about 30 feet deep pit at Raozan while he was playing near his house on January 28. Fire service personnel recovered the body about two hours after. On December 10, 2025, a two-year-old boy died after falling into a ditched deep tube-well at Tanore in Rajshahi. It was expected that the shocking Rajshahi incident would make public agencies and society take sustained action to deter the recurrence of such disasters. But the issue slipped into criminal silence and negligence. Similar incidents a decade ago, when two children died at Shahjahanpur and Shyampur in Dhaka, also could not lead to any effective measures. What is most disturbing is that stopping such disasters does not require much and nothing very special. A simple cover over the open holes can prevent children from falling into them. Yet, the measure has not been taken.
Especially in cities, hundreds of similarly dangerous holes, open drains and manholes, most of them falling under the jurisdiction of various public agencies, remain unprotected, posing constant threats to pedestrians and especially to children. Footpaths in cities are routinely found with broken slabs, missing covers or unguarded openings. This persistent pattern of danger is characteristic of an entrenched culture of institutional neglect. Public agencies responsible for urban safety and infrastructure maintenance have repeatedly failed to enforce basic safety standards. The monsoon season worsen such risks as stagnant water masks open drains, potholes and broken footpaths, forcing pedestrians to walk blind down the terrain. Over a dozen people died and many more became injured after falling into such hazards in a decade. Yet, city authorities still lack not only sustained measures but also updated surveys of their own roads, drains and footpaths, despite repeated accidents and mounting public disappointment. The situation is no less troubling outside cities, where abandoned wells, construction pits and abandoned pipes remain scattered across residential areas without warning signs or protective barriers. The recurrence of such disasters, often involving children, underscores how the authorities have normalised hazards that should never exist in any responsible system of urban or rural governance.
The authorities must, therefore, take responsibility and treat these hazards as threats to life, not maintenance lapses to be ignored until the next incident happens. They should conduct comprehensive surveys, seal open holes and manholes, take punitive measures against irresponsible agencies and property owners and rigorously enforce maintenance responsibilities within their jurisdiction.
