Honesty has no substitute! ubstitute!

As a regular commuter of local buses, extortion (especially by the sergeants) from the bus drivers is a common scene to me. Normally, a sergeant charges Tk 100, while the sergeant in the yellow coat (hoilda police as dubbed by the helpers) takes a higher amount. During the Eid season, extortion becomes rampant. The bus owners have learned to live with it. Interestingly, sometimes the bus helpers go to the extent of sympathising with their nemesis. They (traffic sergeants) have wives and kids back home, and they had to pay a bribe of Tk 10 lakh to get a suitable posting , why should they not make the most out of it? These are the kinds of comments that I have heard from the bus helpers.

We have an adequate, if not fully-fledged, infrastructure for traffic management. The optimum use of it with sincerity and honesty can hold the key to addressing the traffic problems. The salary structure of the officials can be revised. These are more important than installation of those devices.

As a nation, we have become slaves of corruption. Now we also have mastered the art of living with it. We don't have the resolve to go for any reform to get rid of corruption. Still whenever the TIB gives us the 'accolades', we will shout at the top of our voice against it. Maybe, we will also learn to accept it without much ado in near future.