A committee comprising of representatives of the shipping ministry, department of shipping, BIWTA, district administration and launch owners has been formed to re-survey launches. Shipping minister Shahjahan Khan on Sunday told New Age that they formed the committee as people do not have trust on the survey carried out by the officials of the department of shipping.
The minister said that his intention was to take the survey system out of the sole jurisdiction of the officials of the department.
Following a protest by the launch owners, representations of navy and police had been excluded from the committee, though the ministry in its office order issued in the second week of August included those agencies, ministry officials said.
There was no participation of the department of shipping and BIWTA officials in that office order.
The committee re-surveyed 30 out of 86 one-engine launches plying on Mawa-Kaurakandi route and identified 10 launches faulty, officials said.
But launch owners expressed deep concern at the activities of the committee and demanded their participation in it presenting a nine-point demand to the ministry on August 25.
In response to their demands, shipping ministry organised a meeting at the conference room of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority on Sunday with the participations of representatives of the ministry, BIWTA, department of shipping, two factions of launch owners and two factions of launch drivers.
The ministry also presented five-point directives for controlling overloading while the department of shipping presented five-point recommendations at the meeting.
Following a huge protest from launch owners, the ministry formed a nine-member committee led by a joint secretary of the ministry to review all the three papers presented by the three stakeholders.
The committee will submit its recommendations in seven working days, the shipping minister said.
The launch owners in their nine-point demands expressed deep concern for lodging criminal cases against the launch owners and staff in regular courts instead of marine court under inland shipping ordinance 1976.
They also criticised BIWTA for not being able to provide required facilities for normal plying of launches.
The shipping ministry on the other hand proposed introducing ticketing booths to control overloading, and stopping passenger boarding from places other than the launch terminals.
The department of shipping recommended cutting unauthorised extended bodies of the vessels and stopping modification of launches aged over 10 years.
The department also recommended cutting side-railings to stop passenger boarding on the top-deck and master bridge.
-With New Age input
