Long tailbacks at Paturia, Daulatdia
Thousands of passengers from 17 south-western districts of the country are experiencing immense sufferings due to long tailbacks since Wednesday on the roads leading to ferry terminals on both sides of the Padma -- Paturia in Manikganj and Daulatdia in Rajbari.
Now it is taking around four to five hours for a person to cross the River Padma using these two terminals, as opposed to the usual one hour time, said passengers frequenting this route.
Strong currents in the River Padma are forcing the ferries to take twice as long for each trip while a shortage of ferries is worsening the situation on this route, said Mohiuddin Rasel, manager (commerce) at Aricha office of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC).
A total of 18 ferries -- 10 RORO types, three “K” types and five utility types -- operate on the Paturia-Daulatdia route, he said adding that six of these ferries are currently out of service due to mechanical problems.
Among the out of order ferries, the Birshrestha Hamidur Rahman, the Birshrestha Motiur Rahman and the Shah Jalal are RORO ferries; the Kaberi is a “K” type; and the Bonolata and the Hasnahena are utility type of ferries, Mohiuddin mentioned.
All of these vessels were being repaired at the floating workshop Modhumoti at Paturia and two of them -- the Birshrestha Motiur Rahman and the Shah Jalal -- have already joined the fleet after completion of repair work, said the BIWTC official.
Meanwhile another utility ferry, the Madhobilata, has gone out of order with engine fault and as a result a total of 13 ferries are currently operational, he added saying that passenger buses and trucks carrying perishable items are getting priority to board the ferries and that is the reason for relatively longer lines of the freight trucks.
The situation will improve when all the ferries return to the fleet, observed Mohiuddin.
During a visit to the Paturia side of the Padma at around 1:00pm yesterday, this correspondent found hundreds of buses and freight trucks lined up on a 4-kilometre-long stretch of road.
Traffic has come to a standstill, creating a jam on nearly two kilometres of the road between Canal ghat and Daulatdia ferry terminal in Rajbari, said Shafiqul Islam, manager (commerce) at Daulatdia terminal of BIWTC.
The Paturia-Daulatdia river route is the gateway to Dhaka for residents of 17 south-western districts of the country.
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