At least 600 vehicles stranded at terminal as half of ferries go out of order
Thousands of passengers remained stranded at Mawa and Kawrakandi ferry terminals for the last few days as six out of twelve ferries went out of order.
At least 600 vehicles of different kinds were stuck at the terminals yesterday, said officials of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) at Mawa.
Md Qumrul Hossain, assistant terminal officer of BIWTC, said night coaches starting from Dhaka on Friday were stranded till 10:00am yesterday morning.
About 400 trucks loaded with goods have also been stranded for a week, said the drivers waiting at Kawrakandi.
Misir Ali, a truck driver, said, “I am waiting for five days. All my money is spent on food. There is no way to borrow from anyone here.”
The waiting drivers are made to face another ordeal for lack of restrooms, he added.
“I went to Patuakhali three times in September to visit my ailing mother. Every time I had to wait three to five hours for a ferry on either sides of the river,” said Abdul Mannan Mia, an official of a garment factory at Ashulia in Savar.
“Things are getting even worse here every year,” added Mannan.
Quoting local police, our Madaripur correspondent adds, clashes between awaiting transport workers have become commonplace as they all push for a serial number ahead of each other.
Four of the inoperative ferries have been sent to Naryanganj dockyard for major repair works while the other two are under maintenance in Mawa and Paturia, informed the BIWTC officials.
“It has become a regular feature nowadays as most ferries are too old to endure the pressure”, said Md Mosharraf Hossain Howlader, GM (commerce) of BIWTC.
“Shortage of ferries puts extra pressure on the existing ones. Most of the time those remain in operation for 24 hours which results in further increase to their downtime,” he added.
He also mentioned Mawa and Kawrakandi terminals borrow ferries regularly from other terminals to cope with the pressure.
Most of the ferries currently in operation are more than 30 years old. They are past their economic lives, pointed out Mosharraf, adding that the only time these get rest is when they break down.
The ferry terminals connect 23 southern districts with Dhaka and rest of the country. About 3000 vehicles use the ferry services daily.
There are plans however to increase the number of ferries, the official informed.
“Three ferries, each costing about Tk 30 crore, are being locally built currently. Building of another is awaiting approval from Ecnec,” he said.
The BIWTC made its last procurement of two Chinese ferries in 2002.
