A legal notice has been served on Barind Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA) and other relevant authorities, seeking Tk 5 crore in compensation for the family of two-year-old Sazid, who died after being trapped for more than 30 hours in an abandoned shaft in Tanore upazila of Rajshahi.
Supreme Court lawyer Advocate Monirul Islam Mia sent the legal notice today.
According to the notice, hundreds of abandoned and unprotected tube-wells across Rajshahi, Chapainawabganj, and Naogaon districts pose a grave threat to public safety.
The recent incident is a clear example of negligence in duty and administrative indifference on the part of the authorities concerned, it said.
The legal notice alleges violations of Articles 31 and 32 of the constitution, which guarantee the right to life and personal liberty.
The notice set a 15-day deadline for implementing several recommendations.
The recommendations include taking immediate measures to seal and permanently close all abandoned and unsafe shafts to prevent similar tragedies, identifying all abandoned tube-wells through a comprehensive survey, taking legal action against those involved in illegal tube-well drilling, formulating a standard operating procedure (SOP) for safe tube-well management, enforcing strict monitoring to prevent unauthorised tube-well installations, and initiating departmental action against officials responsible for negligence.
The notice warns that if the demands are not met within the stipulated time, the matter will be filed as a public interest litigation (PIL) before the High Court Division.