Snarl-ups at Mawa, Paturia

Several thousand vehicles have been stranded at Mawa and Paturia, two gateways to Dhaka in the country’s southern part, as strong currents disrupted ferry operation on the Padma river at the two places.

The authorities have stopped the operation of several ferries on the Mawa-Kewrakandi and Paturia-Daulatdia routes on Friday night due to adverse weather conditions, leaving the vehicles stranded on two ends of the routes.

The snarl-up is causing immense suffering to passengers.

Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) has asked bus and truck drivers not to use the Paturia-Daulatdia route from Saturday evening to Sunday morning to avoid further congestion.

A BIWTC press release said on Friday that normal ferrying of vehicles would resume on Sunday morning.

bdnews24.com's Manikganj, Rajbari, Munshiganj and Madaripur Correspondents report:

Paturia-Daulatdia

Over 500 vehicles were stranded at each ends of the Paturia-Daulatdia route on Friday midnight due to a disruption in ferry operation.

BIWTC Aricha office Assistant Manager Mohiuddin Russell told bdnews24.com: “Severe traffic congestion has resulted at the Paturia pier. On Friday midnight, over 150 passenger buses and around 500 trucks had queued up to cross the river.”

He said it was taking one and a half hours to cross the river when it mornally takes just about half an hour.

The situation is the same at Daulatdia.

bdnews24.com Rajbari correspondent said over 500 buses and trucks were stranded at the Daulatdia end of the route at around 11:30pm.

According to BWITC, 13 out of 16 ferries were plying on the route.

Ferry boat Kaberi has remained out of service for the past 10 days, while Hamidur Rahman and Rajanigandha were undergoing repairs.

Ferry operation between Rajbari and Pabna also remained suspended due to strong currents in the Padma.

Mawa-Kewrakandi

BIWTC suggested using the Mawa-Kewrakandi route as an alternative to Paturia-Doulatdia, but the tailback on the roads there is not small.

Until 11pm Friday, at least 400 vehicles were stranded at Mawa, said BIWTC Mawa terminal's Assistant General Manager Asifuzzaman said.

He said, "Too much time in ferrying has led to this gridlock. Also, only four ferries are being used at the moment to avoid any accident."

Officials said four other ferries did not run all day due to strong currents and lack of pontoons at the terminal.

The current has reduced ferry operations from the usually nine to ten trips daily to four to five, Asifuzzaman said.

At least a two-kilometre-long line of vehicles was seen throughout Friday due to the disruption.

Earlier, on Tuesday night, communication through river routes from capital Dhaka to the southern region had snapped after Ro Ro ferry terminal No. 3 at Mawa was affected by river erosion.

The terminal, however, became minimally operational on Wednesday, after 11 hours. But it was again closed later.

But Ro Ro ferry services resumed on Thursday evening, 46 hours later, after the Ro Ro ferry terminal was moved to terminal No. 2.

The authorities are yet to resume services through terminal No. 3 as strong currents and river erosion were making that difficult.

Munshiganj district's Deputy Commissioner Md Saiful Hasan Badal said they, including the shipping ministry and relevant offices, were trying to find a solution.

Meanwhile, hundreds of vehicles were similarly stranded on the other side of the Padma River, at Madaripur's Kewrakandi terminal.

BIWTC Transport Superintendent Nurul Amin said around 11pm Friday, "Normal ferry services were suspended to avoid any accident. Only three Ro Ro ferries will run until further notice."

The situation had also led to a two-kilometre-long deadlock starting from the Kewrakandi terminal, he said.

Amin feared that the congestion might worsen by Saturday morning.