The family of Puja Sarkar, the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission scientist who was killed in a road crash last Sunday at Boliarpur on the Dhaka-Aricha highway in Savar, is still lamenting the early death of their daughter as today is the birthday of Puja.
When lamenting, Atul Sarkar, father of Puja, said “Today is my daughter Puja’s birthday and when she was six-year-old, her mother Alpona died at the age of 29. She also died at the same age. Puja was six-months pregnant and my whole family was preparing to celebrate her birthday. But all our hopes go shattered due to the death of my daughter.”
“Puja was passing hectic days in her office as she was scheduled to go for maternity leave recently. I invited her with her husband on the occasion of 'Jamai Sasthi’ a Bengali custom but she said she will come during maternity leave,” said Atul while talking to UNB over phone.
Also read: 3 BAEC officials among 6 killed in Savar road crash
Like everyday Puja was heading towards her office at Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) from her Hatkhola road residence in the capital, he said.
“After the demise of her mother from Cancer, I brought her up alone. She was a student of Viqarunnisa Noon School & College. She was a meritorious student. She obtained first class and earned second position in Physics while studying at Jahangirnagar University. She served as a teacher at Daffodil University for eight months and during the teaching profession she got the job at BAEC,” said Atul, a retired deputy general manager of Janata Bank.
"If my Puja survived she would be a successful scientist," said Atul.
He also claimed that the bus was unfit and the driver had no driving licence. Besides, the bus was plying on the road without any route permit. “How can a driver drive a bus on the road without any route permit? Is there any law in the country?”
Expressing wonder, Atul also said no one has raised a movement protesting the accident. “No child should die like this,” he prayed.
Also read: Mother, daughter killed in Kushtia road crash
Four people including Puja, a scientific officer of BAEC, engineer Kawsar Hossain, 33, testing officer Arifuzzaman, 32, and bus driver Rajib, 30, were killed when a speeding bus ploughed through a road divider after its driver lost control over the steering and then crashed into a minibus carrying BAEC staff and a cattle-laden truck at the same time on the fateful day, SI Sabur Khan, in-charge of Aminbazar police outpost said.
Forty people were injured during the accident.
Maruf Hossain Munna, a driver of the ‘Safe Line Paribahan’ bus from Jhenaidah, succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday.
Later, another BAEC official Farhana Islam succumbed to her injuries at Combined Military Hospital on Wednesday.