Ferry services suspended
A blanket of dense fog shrouded different regions of the country crippling traffic on the highways and inland waterways from Friday night to Saturday morning.
Low visibility forced the suspension of ferry services between Paturia and Daulatdia as well as Mawa and Kawrakandi, linking key highways, for more than 11 hours beginning 11PM Friday keeping thousands of travelers stranded on both the banks of the mighty river Padma.
This was the third time in one month that that the key ferry services were suspended for hours on the two key routes for the same reason.
The situation is likely to continue for a day or two, the met office in Dhaka told New Age.
On Thursday night the fog became dense as the temperature fell below the normal level, said meteorologist Abdur Rahman.
He said that fog engulfed the whole country except Chittagong region.
He said that the fog disappeared as the temperature rose on the following day.
Reports received from the outlying districts said fog lowered visibility beginning Thursday evening and the fog became dense in three to four hours forcing vehicular traffic had to move slowly.
Water transports had to ply cautiously on inland waterways and, on some of the routes came to a halt for hours.
The ferry service had to be suspended at 11 PM on Thursday night due to low visibility, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation manager at Paturia Ashrafullah Khan told New Age.
He said that the ferry service resumed at around 10.15 AM on Friday.
BIWTC officials at Paturia and Mawa said hundreds of vehicles remained stranded at Paturia, Daulatdia, Mawa and Kawrakandi on the banks of the river Padma forcing children, the elderly and other passengers to wait for hours in biting cold, without food, water and toilet facilities.
At least eight ferries remained stranded at Paturia and Daulatdia and two others in the mid-river, they said.
BIWTC officials said eight ferries remained trapped in the Padma’s mid river on the Mawa-Kawrakandi route and two others remained stranded at the two ghats.
The ferry service on this route resumed at around 10.15 AM on Saturday after the fog cleared, prompting a tailback of 800 vehicles at Daulatdia and 600 vehicles at Paturia, they said.
They said that tail backs stretching three kilometers kept thousands of travelers waiting for their turns to avail ferries at Mawa as well as Kawrakandi to cross the river.
Bus operators sold tickets knowing full well that no ferry service would be available to cross the river, said Md Hamid who was on his way to Khulna in a bus he took at the Gabtoli Bus Terminal in the capital.
He said that the bus reached the Paturia Ghat at around 2 AM and it could board a ferry at 3 PM on Saturday, after an agonizing wait under the open sky for 13 hours in the chilly weather.
Transport operators said that due to the suspension of ferry service, hundreds of passengers who had left the capital on way to greater Khulna, Barisal and Faridpur had to wait at inter-district bus terminals or counters for hours before they could catch a bus.
After missing the schedules buses queued up for hours before they could leave the terminals, Soukhin Paribahan’s Ibrahim Morol told New Age at Gabtoli.
The ferry service on the two routes had to be suspended for more than five hours for the same reason on November 14 and for more than eight hours on November 18.
Communication between Barisal and other parts of the country by road and waters ways remained suspended for hours.
Barisal Bus Owners’ Association president Alamgir Hossain said ferry services on major routes connecting Barisal with Bhola, Kuakata also remained suspended for six to eight hours until Saturday morning.
BIWTA deputy director in Barisal Wakil Newaz,, said fog forced more than 50 water transports, carrying hundreds of passengers on way to different destinations, to anchor in mid river since 2 AM.
The vessels could set sail again after sunrise, he said.
Our Correspondent in Dinajpur reports biting cold and thick fog disrupted normal life across the district for the second consecutive day on Saturday causing immense sufferings to the people, especially the poor.
Trucker Tayeb Ali of the district town said he had to use the headlight of his truck on Saturday morning to avoid accident.
Day labourer Abdur Rahman also of the district town of Dinajpur said the weather forced the all needing to work every day to earn their living to stay home.
New Age Rajshahi correspondent reported that normal life was disrupted in the divisional city, facing the worst cold spell with the sun remaining behind the clouds.
On Saturday, the met office in Rajshahi recorded the lowest temperature of 14.6 degrees Celsius- and the highest at 23.8 degree-Celsius.
Biting cold forced people to stay indoors.
People living in slums and the chars of the Padma River suffered the most lack warm clothes.
Rajshahi Medical College Hospital and other public hospitals and private clinics in the city received an unusual rush of patients over the last couple of days with complaints of fever, asthma and respiratory tract infection.
Courtesy of New Age
