FAMILIES of victims of the Panchagarh boat capsize are in deep economic despair as the government support for them was momentary and the legal scope for compensation in the case of inland water transport accident is undefined. Sixty-nine people drowned in the River Korotoya as the boat with about 100 passengers on board capsized on September 25. Most of the victims are from economically marginal and minority Hindu community with no land or much tangible property to survive after the death of bread-earners of the family. The district administration gave Tk 20,000 each to the families of the deceased for final rites while the religious affairs ministry gave Tk 25,000 each to the victim families. The disaster management and relief ministry also gave Tk 50,000 in cash and dry food to families of the deceased. Humanitarian organisations Red Crescent Society and Bidyananda Foundation provided some families with financial assistance. The families appreciated the immediate support but said that the efforts were piecemeal. It did in no way contribute to their long-term economic survival.

The committee investigating the accident identified eight reasons, which include lack of proper role of leaseholders, lack of experience of the boatmen and flaws in the boat. Similar observations were made in the recent past, but no effective action has so far been taken. The issue of compensation in waterway accidents is not an option for the government. There are High Court directives in this regard, but the directives too remained not or partially implemented. In June 2021, the High Court directed the government to give Tk 15 lakh each in damages to families of 18 victims, who died in a boat capsize at Sandwip in Chattogram on April 2, 2017. The court also observed that the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation and the Chattogram District Council were negligent in duties to ensure a safe journey for the victims and termed their negligence illegal and unconstitutional. Considering that the High Court order on compensating the victims of the 2003 launch capsize still remains unimplemented, it is highly unlikely that any recent order is taken seriously by the government. The compensation in this case is not only necessary as the economic support of the victim families but also as a means to establish accountability.

Although there are some legal provisions of compensating the victims of road accidents in the road transport law, the legal scope for waterway accidents, as passenger rights activists say, is undefined. A system must be developed to compensate victims of waterway accidents which will in turn improve the inland waterway safety by making vessel owners motivated to support a proper training of boatmen and a more rigorous enforcement of vessel fitness standards. The government must also address legal and regulatory ambiguity regarding damages for the victims of waterway accidents.