Traffic gets longer as ferries can't take full load

Ro-Ro ferry Birshreshtha Hamidur Rahman that ran aground in Padma shoal with 10 vehicles on the Paturia-Daulatdia route yesterday was salvaged after eight hours.
Assistant manager of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) at Daulatdia office Abdul Mannan said the ferry that started for Paturia Ghat (terminal) from Daulatdia Ghat at around 3:00 am with eight buses and two trucks ran aground near Daulatdia Ghat No 3 after 10 minutes of its journey.
The authorities rescued the stranded ferry at around 11:30 am, he said.
Earlier, Ro Ro ferry Khanjahan Ali ran aground in shoal with 24 vehicles and remained stranded there for six hours on Saturday.
On Friday, two ferries- Shah Ali and Shah Poran ran aground one after another in shoals with over 40 vehicles near Daulatdia Ghat No 3 on the Paturia-Daulatdia channel and rescued after six hours, the BIWTC official said.
Huge traffic jam was created at the Paturia and Daulatdia terminals as the ferries plying on the Paturia-Daulatdia route were forced to reduce their capacity by more than half due to the low navigability of the Padma River.
Manager (Commerce) of BIWTC at Paturia office Ashraf Ullah Khan said the ferries have been moving without full load for the last five days due to the low navigability.
Around 400 trucks and 100 buses got stranded at Paturia Ghat and over 300 trucks remained stuck at Daulatdia terminal, he said.
Communications between Dhaka and 21 south and south-western districts will come to a halt anytime if the navigation work was not expedited, said a BIWTC official.
He also blamed the BIWTA for its slow dredging work.
Several BIWTC officials said the dredging unit is not doing the dredging work properly.
It is dumping the removed sand only around 60 feet away from the channel. The sand will return to the channel within short time, they said.