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A chilly night for passengers

Ferry service on Daulatdia-Paturia route resumes after 11 hours


Published : 22 Jan 2021 11:39 PM | Updated : 23 Jan 2021 09:28 AM

It was a chilly night aboard the ferries as hundreds of passengers spent their night in the Padma River after ferries got stuck due to dense fog. 

The communication of the south and south-western region of the country with the capital city is being seriously hampering for continue blanket of thick fog.  

As like as last couple of day, dense fog caused again disruptions to ferry and Launch services on the Paturia-Doulatdia river channel for 11 hours on Friday.

The disruption of the channel has been created a long traffic jam and also untold inconveniences of passengers, especially women and children of stranded vehicles amid chilling night.

Deputy General Manager of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) at Aricha sector Zillur Rahaman said the ferry services were disrupted as the channel became risky from mid-night, causing sufferings to the passengers of different vehicles.

Six ferries, along with two Ro-Ro ferries with vehicles and passengers were bound for anchored in the mid river of Padma for the hours. Four ferries with hundreds of loaded trucks, buses and small vehicles along with passengers forced to strand at Paturia ghat, while 6 others passed the lazy time at Daulatdia ghat, because of near zero visibility.

Over 500 Coaches, buses, minibuses, privet cars and loaded trucks from Dhaka lined up at Paturia in Manikganj and similar numbers vehicles waiting at Daulatdia in Rajbari.

Every moment the line of the vehicles are going to longest. A snarl-up stretching about four kilometers was seen on road to Paturia Ghat at about 10:00am, Traffic Inspector Mohammed Jassel said.

The ferry services resumed at about 11.30 am on Friday when the foggy weather improved, Mohiuddin Rashel, Manager (Commerce) of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) at Aricha sector said.

Admitting the traffic jam the DGM said, the disruptions of ferry service caused long traffic chaos on both sides of the ferry routes. Now 16 RO-RO, K- type and a small type ferries are carrying passenger buses, private vehicles and emergency raw material trucks on a priority basis. Traffic congestion will be reduced in a short time, he hoped.

Disruption of ferry services has become almost a daily affair in these ferry ghats in recent days since a mild cold spell gripped, sources said.