The navigability crisis is continuing to disrupt ferry services between Paturia and Daulatdia on the river channels, having worsened over the last couple of days.
Frequent suspension of ferry services on the Paturia-Daulatdia route has dislocated communication links between Dhaka and 21 south-western districts. The crisis of navigability in the channel as well as the submerged shoals have exacerbated the situation over the last couple of days.
As a result, long traffic snarls have been created on both sides of the ferry routes, causing untold suffering to the passengers and staff of stranded vehicles.
To keep traffic flows normal, the authorities have banned the movement of passenger buses through the Paturia-Daulatdia ferry routes for 72 hours from Sunday morning.
The decision was announced in the wake of a meeting between shipping minister Shahjahan Khan with representatives of the Bus Owners’ Association, held on Saturday night at the conference room of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) at Dhaka, deputy general manager of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) (Aricha sector), Md. Shahadut Hossain, told The Independent.
Assistant manager (commerce) of BIWTC (Aricha ferry sector), Md. Shafiqul Islam, told The Independent that only goods-laden trucks have been crossing the river by ferry from Sunday morning.
Nearly 100 passenger buses and private cars travelling to and from the south and southern districts have been waiting for hours on both ghats. Bus communication with the capital city of Dhaka and 21 south-western districts has been disrupted due to the halt, sources said.
Some truck drivers said there were no long queues of buses at present, but only of trucks on both sides of the Padma. The traffic situation has improved slightly, they conceded, but added that hundreds of goods-laden trucks are still stranded at Paturia in Manikganj and Daulatdia in Rajbari for crossing the Padma.
Assistant manager (commerce) of the BIWTC in the Aricha sector, Md. Mohiuddin Rashel, said, “A huge tailback has been created at Paturia and Daulatdia ghats as ferry services are frequently being disrupted because of low navigability over the last seven days.”
-With The Independent input
