FARIDPUR: Shortage of ferries and their suspension due to dense fog have been continuing to disrupt services on the Paturia-Daulatdia route, causing sufferings to passengers and transport workers.
Hundreds of vehicles at the terminal have been seen waiting for ferries to cross the Padma river.
The people of south-western part of the country have long been suffering due to the ferry shortage, said travellers on the route.
Khandaker Masud Hossain, a passenger of a bus that left Faridpur, said that he was going to the hospital with his wife and two children to see his ailing mother in Dhaka. But when they reached Daulatdia Ghat, they got stuck in the bus due to a long traffic jam.
Rajbari District Traffic Police Inspector, Tarak Chandra Pal, said, "Hundreds of trucks carrying goods bound for Daulatdia Ghat were asked to stop near the Goaland Morh area of Rajbari Sadar Police Station on the instructions of the district police administration to control the traffic congestion. The trucks are being released in phases considering the terminal situation."
Contacted, the Daulatdia terminal authorities said they do not know for sure when this problem will be resolved.
Moreover, dense fog disrupts smooth ferry operations on the route every year in winter.
The officials of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC)'s Daulatdia office said they do not face any problem in running the ferries at night.
"But in the morning, when the fog suddenly increases, ferries cannot be operated. So, the ferry service is sometimes stopped in the morning in winter. When the fog density decreases, the ferry service resumes," they added.
BIWTC Daulatdia Ghat Manager, Shihab Uddin, said, "The number of ferries on this route is much less than the demand. For this reason when fog increases, the ferry is closed, and long queues of vehicles are formed."
Meanwhile, Mohiuddin Russell, co-manager of Paturia Ghat, said, "About 4,000 vehicles of different types of vehicles use this route every day. However, now some 2,000 to 2,500 vehicles have been using this route due to shortage of ferries."
"In addition to this, a number of vehicles that are supposed to use the Shimulia-Banglabazar route are now taking this route due to limited ferry services there. This has put extra pressure on the route," he added.
He also added that a total of 17 small and large ferries are now in operation for the busy Paturia-Daulatdia route.
Earlier, there were 22 ferries. But a ro-ro ferry named Amanat Shah sank in an accident at Paturia on October 27, 2021.
After that, four other ferries have been sent to Narayanganj dockyard for repair.
Rubeluzzaman Biplob, executive engineer of BIWTC's Paturia Floating Factory Madhumati, said, "Out of the 22 ferries, 14 are large, two medium and six small. There are four big ferries being repaired at the Narayanganj dockyard.
"Although the remaining ferries are operational, some of them often go out of order as they are quite old. After repair works, they will be re-added to the fleet," he added.
According to Marine Division Officer Abdus Sattar, most of the 14 large ferries of this route are too old.
"The ferry Shah Jalal was built in 1980, Shah-Ali and Shah-Makhdum in 1985, Shah-Paran and Khanjahan Ali in 1987, Enayetpuri and Keramat Ali were in 1989.
However, the other large ferries in the fleet are relatively new. The two medium sized ferries -- Dhaka and Comilla -- are also very old," he told this correspondent.
BIWTC Daulatdia Ghat Manager (Commerce) Jamal Hossan said, "There is an acute shortage of ro-ro (big) ferries on the existing Daulatdia-Paturia route. For this, congestion of vehicles often occurs in the terminal area."
