Navigability Crisis, Shortage of Ferry Terminals on the Daulatdia–Paturia Route Cause Severe Suffering for commuters

Around 300 goods-laden trucks have been stranded at the Daulatdia ferry ghat in Rajbari, waiting to cross, because of a navigability crisis, strong currents and an acute shortage of operational ghats. Drivers and ordinary passengers are suffering greatly after being stuck at the ghat for long hours. A long queue of goods trucks has formed in the area adjacent to the ghat.

A visit to the Daulatdia ferry ghat area yesterday morning found hundreds of goods trucks lined up toward the ghat. The drivers and helpers of these vehicles, waiting to board ferries, are spending long hours in uncertainty. Unable to reach their destinations on time, they are in severe distress.

Sources at the ghat said that, because of a sudden strong current and a severe navigability crisis in the Padma River, ferries are unable to berth at most of the ghats on the Daulatdia side. Only ghats No. 4 and 6 have been kept running somehow. Even at ghat No. 6, however, ferries are having great difficulty berthing because of the powerful current.

Moreover, ghat No. 7, the most important ghat in the pontoon area, has been completely shut for around a month because of the navigability crisis. As a result, with vehicles having to cross through a limited number of ghats, the pressure on ferry operations has increased several-fold.

Md. Salauddin, manager (commercial) of the BIWTC’s Daulatdia ghat branch, said only two ghats are currently operational. The important ghat No. 7 has been closed for around a month because of the navigability crisis. “Once the ghats are running again, there will be no traffic congestion or crossing problems,” he said. Vehicles are currently being ferried across with a total of eight ferries, big and small.

Because the number of pontoons, or ghats, needed for the ghat’s capacity is not operational, long tailbacks are forming on the Daulatdia side every day. Goods trucks that have come from distant places, in particular, have to wait at the ghat for long periods. This means extra transport costs on the one hand, and on the other, drivers and traders are deeply anxious about whether perishable and urgent goods will reach their destinations on time.

Affected passengers and drivers have strongly demanded that the BIWTA and other authorities concerned resolve the navigability crisis through urgent dredging of the river and reopen the closed ghats without delay.