Statues are used to enhance the beauty of a city. Whether the tiger statues set up at the Kawran Bazar intersection were aesthetically pleasing or not is another matter, but the unfortunate fact is one toppled over and crushed a cycle-van driver to death. This is just one tragic incident of the unplanned mess of the capital city.

The van driver Mohammed Ali everyday would take a nap on his van under the shade of the tiger. Early Friday morning it was this tiger that fell and killed the man. He was the only earning member of his family. Dhaka city corporation was responsible for the maintenance of this statue, but no one of the corporation was available for comment on the incident. The advertisement agency who set up the statue also remained out of reach.

When initiatives are taken for the beautification of a city, the work has to have certain consistency. Safety and security is of prime concern. But in our country, there is hardly any planning at all in the beautification drives. In most cases the work is done hurriedly. Such hurried work was done before the 2011 Cricket World Cup and that’s when the tiger statues were erected. They were even using toilet tiles to ‘beautify’ the road dividers, until the architects and city planners prevented it.

Sculptures involve both aesthetics and engineering skills. The tiger statues at Kawran Bazar were aesthetically questionable. As for the engineering aspect, the mishaps says it all. We hope the authorities look into the matter and punish whoever is responsible for the accident.