Al Helal Voice

"What if the next step you take on the street is your last?" In cities around the world, safety is a fundamental expectation. But what happens when the very infrastructure meant to protect us becomes a silent killer? From lost lives to administrative denial, this blog delves into the grim reality of open manholes across Bangladesh. It examines real-life tragedies, exposes bureaucratic apathy, and presents how cities like New York, Seoul, Tokyo, and Amsterdam have solved similar crises. Finally, it outlines what Bangladesh must do—urgently—to reclaim safety in public spaces. Introduction When a city fails to safeguard its own people, it becomes not just dysfunctional—but dangerous. The streets of major Bangladeshi cities are plagued by a silent, deadly hazard: open and poorly maintained manholes. These gaping holes in public infrastructure don’t just represent negligence—they are death traps. From Dhaka to Chittagong, and from Sylhet to Barisal, every monsoon and every footste...

Imagine a young child falling into an uncovered open manhole in the heart of a bustling city—and nobody rescues them for over thirty‑six hours. When the body is finally found, the public asks: will anyone accept responsibility, or is this just part of a tragic script within our urban landscape? In this post, we will explore incidents in Bangladesh that raise uncomfortable questions: are these disasters genuine accidents—or orchestrated political narratives that shield authorities from blame? We’ll examine chilling cases like the prolonged rescue of a child trapped in Dhaka and the dramatic, widely publicized survival of a girl under Zernt Plaza rubble. We’ll contrast these with global precedents—Japan’s transparent handling of Fukushima, France’s management of the Notre‑Dame fire, and the UK’s response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy. Finally, we’ll propose what Bangladesh could learn—and implement—to break this cycle: from modern urban infrastructure to immediate accountability, fair co...