Truck drivers demand allowing their vehicles on ferries at Baglabazar terminal
Truck drivers today protested demanding authorities to allow them to board ferries with their perishable goods-laden vehicles from Banglabazar Ferry terminal in Madaripur.
During the protest, they allegedly confined the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) Manager (commerce), Salahuddin Ahmed, for an hour, reports our Faridpur correspondent.
For the last two days they have been stuck in the ferry terminal and the authorities there are not taking any initiative to allow them to cross the river using ferries, whereas, passengers and small vehicles are crossing the river using ferries every day, said the truck drivers.
If the ferry service remains closed for another day, all raw materials on board will be damaged and traders will face huge loss, they said.
"My truck is full of watermelon and many of it has already started rotting, if I am unable to go to Dhaka by today all of it will be rotten," said Al Rakib, a truck driver coming from Barishal.
"I am carrying onions in my truck, if the ferry service is delayed any further there is a risk of damage for which traders will incur huge loss. We requested the ferry terminal manager to allow us to cross the river but he could not do anything other than assuring us," said Moslem Sarder, a truck driver from Khulna.
"There are around 600 goods-laden vehicles stuck at the terminal from last night, as there are too many people, dead body carrying ambulances and private vehicles at the terminal. We already asked truck drivers to use an alternate route to avoid this situation," said Banglabazar Traffic Inspector Ashikur Rahman.
"The drivers have presented their demand to us. But after being instructed by the authorities, we have stopped the ferry services from 11:30am today to stop the Covid-19 transmission surge,' said BIWTC Manager Salahuddin.
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