Kazirhaat loses another ferry

Barely a month after losing its two big ferries and their pontoon, Kazirhaat ferry ghat -- the busiest ferry port for loaded trucks in the northern region -- has now lost one of its two smaller ferries.

This means over 300 vehicles plying on the Kazirhaat-Aricha route is now stranded in the area, without adequate food, accommodation or sanitation facilities for the truckers.

Talking to The Daily Star, Mahabubur Rahman, manager of the ghat, the ghat had two small ferries, "Kadam" and "Camelia", for the last one month.

Before this, the ghat had two more larger Ro Ro ferries plying the route, he said.

But on Monday, Camelia had to be taken to the dock yard due to technical fault, leaving only Kadam to carry vehicles on the route for the last five days.

"Kadam can only carry 25 to 30 trucks and 20 to 25 small vehicles like cars and motorbikes at a time. As a result, more than 300 vehicles remain stranded on both sides of the ghat,"  Mahabub said.

Contacted, Md Khaled Newaz, deputy general manager of Aricha ghat, said the crisis won't be resolved any time soon due to a shortage of ferries.

Meanwhile, truckers said they're stuck at the ghat under immensely difficult conditions. As the ghat area doesn't have adequate food and accommodation, they have to buy food from afar and spend the nights inside their trucks. They're also suffering due to the lack of toilet facilities.