Hundreds of vehicles waiting to cross the River Jamuna on Saturday were seen stuck in long queues at the Aricha ferry terminal in Manikganj and Kajirhat terminal in Pabna due to the suspension of Aricha-Kajirhat route ferry service by Bangladesh Inland聽Water Transport Corporation amid navigability crisis.
Visiting the Aricha ghat at about 6:00pm, it was seen that over 300 goods-laden trucks were waiting and the problem also worsened due to closure of the terminal for dredging.
Trucks drivers from the capital city Dhaka and other districts and southwest districts of the country travelling on the route suffered due to the tailback of vehicles at the terminal.
Truck drivers said that this suffering could have been reduced had the authorities taken precautionary measures.
鈥楶ressure of vehicles increases on Fridays compared to other days. Due to easy communication of this road the pressure of vehicles has increased even more and the problem was exacerbated by the closure of a terminal due to dredging,鈥� said Abu Abdullah manager of BIWTC at the Aricha office.聽
Nasir Mohammad Chowdhury, deputy general manager of BIWTC鈥檚 Aricha regional office in
Manikganj, said that ferries were getting stuck in the water near the Aricha terminal for the past few days due to the navigability crisis.
The ferry authorities continue to operate the ferry service with half loads. As the water level in the Jamuna River continues to recede, the channel becomes narrower, making the ferry service extremely dangerous. After being disrupted several times, the ferry service was finally suspended at around 10:00pm on Friday.
The truck driver Abdul Mannan said that he came from Dhaka to Aricha terminal last Friday at about 9:30pm and would go to Natore.
Now he is thinking of taking an alternative route as the ferry is closed, he said.
鈥榃e use this route as it is comfortable and easy to travel,鈥� Mannan said, adding that truck drivers will have a lot of trouble due to the closure of the ferry service.
BIWTC鈥檚 Aricha terminal manager Abu Abdullah said, 鈥榃e have informed our higher authorities of the shipping crisis.鈥� Dredging work is also going on, he said. He, however, could not say when the ferry service would resume.
BIWTC鈥檚 Aricha regional office DGM Nasir Mohammad Chowdhury confirmed the closure of the ferry and said that due to the
navigability crisis, the ferry service on the Aricha-Kazirhat route had been stopped since 10:00pm on Friday.
He said that once the navigation crisis was over, the ferry service would operate again.
More than 100 cargo trucks were stuck at Aricha terminal in Manikganj and more than 200 trucks at Kazirhat terminal in Pabna, the DGM said.