Ferry Disruption: People suffer on both sides of the Padma

Passengers and businesses continued to suffer for a third consecutive day as Shimulia-Kathalbari ferry services across the Padma remained suspended due to poor navigability.

Authorities are hoping to improve navigability through dredging the river and resume the services from today.

The suspension of services since Thursday resulted in more than usual rush on Paturia-Daulatdia ferry service, which has already been suffering frequent disruptions for almost two weeks due to strong currents and poor navigability, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) officials said.

Tailbacks in Manikganj's Paturia and Rajbari's Daulatdia ferry terminals reached miles yesterday.

The two routes across the Padma are considered the gateway to 21 southern districts.

Traders are afraid of incurring losses as shipping duration and costs are rising.

Strong currents near Daulatdia are causing frequent disruptions to ferry services. Moreover, some old ferries frequently need tugging while going upstream, officials said.

The authorities are struggling to cope with the added number of vehicles while ferries are taking longer to cross the river, reports our Manikganj correspondent.

Usually about 1,500 trucks and 3,500 other vehicles cross the river there. The numbers have halved due to disruptions, said Shafiqul Islam, manager (commerce) of BIWTC Dauladia Station. 

Near Daulatdia ferry terminal, our correspondent saw about 600 vehicles, including trucks, in a tailback reaching about two kilometres.

The situation was similar near Paturia terminal.

On Shimulia-Kathalbari route, several hundred trucks were stranded on both sides of the river, reports our Munshiganj correspondent.

People are crossing rivers on small launches and speedboats in daytime.

The route had been suffering navigability crisis for the last one and a half month.

“So far 17 lakh cubic metre of silt has been removed. We will have to remove 32 lakh cubic metre by next December to maintain navigability,” Saidur Rahman, additional executive engineer of BIWTA, said.