Rampant use of siren

I remember that I could hear only certain kinds of siren when I was a child. That was before the Liberation War. When the then governor Monayem Khan went somewhere with his entourage, we could hear the siren go off. The other siren I can remember was when an ambulance rushed to a hospital. Also, an occasional siren or the loud ringing of a bell would tell us that a fire had broken somewhere and the fire service was moving fast to douse the fire. In all these cases other vehicles and pedestrians would stop on the side of the road to make way. This is unthinkable nowadays. 

My point is not to criticise the non-cooperative attitude of the people, but to know whom to support and why. Now different departments are using sirens as they wish, sometimes even changing the sound of the sirens to create a greater impact. So, it has become very difficult for the public to know the importance of the sirens. Most peculiar are the sirens used by the police department. They frequently change the sirens while on the move. I don't know which siren means what. I doubt if the police persons themselves know. 

The rampant use of sirens creates confusion. When I am thinking an ambulance is trying to move ahead, I see a police vehicle or vice-versa. I believe each department should use a unique siren so that we can understand them and support them accordingly.

Sarker Javed Iqbal
Mirpur-2, Dhaka