Disruption in ferry services cause tailbacks
Ferry services on Daulatdia-Paturia route remained suspended for three hours yesterday morning as four ferries ran aground in shoals in the Padma one after another, creating a huge tailback at Daulatdia ferry terminal.
Hundreds of buses and trucks were lined up on 4 kilometre road stretching from the ghat to Daulatdia Union Parishad office around 3:30pm while around two hundred vehicles remained stranded at Paturia ghat at 4:00pm.
Ro Ro ferry Shah Poran left Daulatdia ghat for Paturia with 18 vehicles around 6:15am and was stuck in a shoal after 10 minutes, said Jillur Rahman, assistant manager at Daulatdia office of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC).
Ro Ro ferries Keramat Ali, Shah Ali and Bir Shreshtha Hamidur Rahman also ran aground in shoals within half an hour.
After two hours of hectic efforts, rescue vessel IT-389 salvaged the ferries around 9:00am with over 100 vehicles onboard, added Jillur.
Nine Ro Ro and one K-type ferries transport vehicles through a single channel on the route.
As four of them got stuck, the channel was blocked causing the halt to ferry services.
Many people of 21 south and south-western districts stayed at the Daulatdia ghat for hours as over 1,000 vehicles remained stranded there.
Hundreds of drivers and staff of goods-laden trucks have been waiting at the Daulatdia ghat for the last three to four days. They are left in the lurch as they run short of money to buy food.
Truck driver Shahadat Hossain said his truck has been stranded at the terminal for four days and he was still uncertain when he could reach Dhaka.
According to a BIWTC official, the Daulatdia ghat has become a site of regular tailbacks as ferry services are disrupted frequently due to low navigability in the Padma.
Two BIWTA dredgers started dredging on Tuesday to keep the channel passable for ferries, noted a BIWTA engineer.
Around 70, 000 cubic metre of sand has been removed from near ghat no-3 till yesterday.
He hoped the channel will be safe for ferry movement within three to four days.
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