Miles of tailbacks on both sides of Padma

Hundreds of trucks loaded with essentials are seen stuck at Paturia ferry ghat because of inadequate ferry service. Driver of a truck carrying fish shows a sample of his load, inset, at the ticket counter of the ferry ghat in a desperate bid to collect a ticket for crossing the river. Perishable items already started to rot, truck drivers said.Photo: Anisur Rahman

Several thousand trucks carrying essentials have remained stranded on both sides of the Paturia-Daulatdia ferry ghats for the last five days as four of the nine ferries of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) are out of order.
About 1,000 trucks carrying food items, life-saving drugs, urea fertiliser, LP gas cylinders, relief materials and poultry feeds have been waiting to catch ferries at any of the three terminals of Paturia ferry ghat.
Another 1,000 lorries carrying especially vegetable and fish have remained stuck at the Goalanda-Daulatdia ferry ghat for the last few days.
This has caused huge sufferings to both traders and truck employees who had to spend more than what they earn just to manage their daily meals.
Meanwhile, taking opportunity of the situation a section of BIWTC officials, traffic police and brokers are earning illegal money from truck drivers promising to let them catch a ferry breaking the queue.
Mamun, driver of Sabbir Enterprise, said three of their company trucks came to Paturia on September 8 but only one could catch a ferry as its driver gave a broker Tk 900 in addition to the official fee of Tk 800.
"Although the official rate of ferry service for a truck is Tk 800, brokers having connections with BIWTC officials and employees demanded Tk 1,000-1,500 bribes to let them go earlier breaking serials," he said. Many other truck drivers said the same.
A truck driver who is carrying Ruhi fish from Dhaka to Satkhira was seen desperately trying to get a ticket for crossing the river as the fish started to rot.
ACI Pharmaceuticals' driver Anis, who is carrying medicines from Narayanganj for Jessore Sadar Hospital, was waiting for ice to arrive from the company for keeping the medicines cool.
He said apart from other medicines he is carrying CEVA GUMBO 500, CEVA IBDL 500 and CEVA NEWL 500 which cost Tk 21 lakh. "These medicines have to be kept in ice for 24 hours," he said.
Fakhrul Islam, helper of a truck carrying 450 LP gas cylinders from Sylhet to Doulatpur in Khulna, was seen busy sprinkling water on the cylinders to keep them cool as many cylinders started leaking because of the heat.
"One of the 450 cylinders have already become empty as gas leaked out because of the heat," said Fakhrul who was looking sad. He said he would have to pay a demurrage of Tk 1,200 for an empty cylinder.
He said five trucks loaded with LP gas cylinders have been waiting at the Paturia ferry ghat for a few days. Being under the sun for long is also very risky as it could lead to an accident any moment, he added.
Truck driver Amir Ali came to Paturia ghat from Dhaka on September 9 morning with poultry feeds. He said the chicks at different farms in Satkhira have already started to die due to the lack of food and the farm owners are repeatedly calling him on mobile phone urging him to bring the feeds as early as possible.
Driver Nurunnabi, who is carrying relief materials of the Ahsania Mission, has also been waiting at the ghat for the last two days.
Liton, helper of a truck, said they arrived at the ghat on September 6 with garment jhut from Dhaka to reach Benapole border but are yet to catch a ferry.
"The truck driver will get Tk 500 and I will get Tk 300 for carrying the goods but we have already spent almost double for our meals," he said. If they fail to reach Benapole by 8:00am on Thursday, they will not get the wages, he added.
Khorshed Alam, BIWTC assistant manager at Paturia ferry ghat, said, "We hope that one of the four out-of-order ferries will be ready for operating within a day or two and two more will be repaired by September 20."
Khorshed, however, denied the allegations that their officials and employees are violating serials and taking bribes with the help of brokers and traffic police. He said they are trying their best to maintain serial of the waiting trucks.
A total of 393 buses, 370 trucks and 290 cars left Paturia ferry ghat on September 9 and 545 buses, 400 trucks and 300 cars on September 6 when seven ferries were operating, said another BIWTC official.
Our Faridpur correspondent Rezaul Karim reports: Over 1,000 stranded vehicles created 2km long queues on both sides of the highway from Daulatdia ferry ghat.
Daulatdia Terminal Superintendent Sayed Nakib alleged that there is a lack of proper maintenance of the ferries.
He said one or two ferries often become unfit for operation and only five cannot bear the huge load of vehicles. The engineering department is responsible for the faulty maintenance, he added.