Vehicles stranded for hours

A two-kilometre-long queue of vehicles was seen at Paturia under the district while a five-kilometre-long tailback was created at Daulatdia ferry ghat in Rajbari yesterday afternoon, causing immense sufferings to thousands of passengers of 19 south western districts.

The situation was created due to shortage of ferries and it has been continuing since Wednesday, said officials of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC).

Visiting the two ferry terminals yesterday afternoon, this correspondent talked to the passengers who were stranded at the ghats for more than four to five hours.

Passengers Abdus Salam of Meherpur and Deepali Saha of Gopalganj and many others said they have to wait for four to five hours to cross the Padma river. They are facing serious problem due to lack of toilet and baby food.

Despite repeated pleas, the authorities are yet to take any steps to end the public's sufferings, they said.

Manager (Marine) of BIWTC's Aricha office Abdus Sattar said 14 ferries out of 20 are currently operating on Paturia-Daulatdia river route as six ferries are being repaired.

Two Ro Ro ferries and a utility ferry are being repaired at Narayanganj dockyard while a Ro-Ro ferry, a K-Type ferry and a utility ferry are being repaired at the floating workshop in Paturia ferry terminal in Manikganj, he said.

Due to the weakness of the engine, Ro-Ro Ferry Bir Shreshtha Matiur Rahman cannot be run at night, he added.

The situation will be under control after setting up new engines in the Ro-Ro ferries Bir Shreshtha Hamidur and Bir Shreshtha Motiur, he said.