Sufferings of passengers and transport workers continued on Friday following suspended ferry services on Shimulia-Kathalbari water channel and navigability crisis as well as mounting pressure of a huge number of vehicles on Paturia-Daulatdia channel.

For six consecutive days, ferry services were severely affected on major water channels in the river Padma since last Sunday on the country’s south-western routes.

The situation turned severe after the ferry services on Shimulia-Kathalbari route was suspended completely for an indefinite period from Thursday morning.

Several hundred passenger and goods-laden vehicles were seen stranded at different ferry terminals waiting to cross the river.

Bangladesh Inland Water Transport is currently dredging on Shimulia-Kathalbari and on Paturia-Daulatdia channels to make these fully functional.

Due to the dredging works ferry services on Paturia-Daulatdia channel was being disrupted on Friday and people had to wait long for crossing.

Earlier on Saturday, state minister for shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury said that the ferry services on the Shimulia-Kathalbari channel would remain closed between 6:00pm and 6:00am until further notice due to strong current and to ensure safety of the under-construction Padma Multipurpose Bridge.

New Age correspondent in Munshiganj reported that on Thursday since 7:30am Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation officials closed the ferry services entirely due to navigability crisis.

The decision to suspend all ferry services was taken only to avoid accidents, officials said.

On Friday some of the trucks were seen stuck in queues at Shimulia ghat area for two to three days while many truck drivers  turned their vehicles around to take alternative routes.

New Age correspondent in Manikganj reported that passengers and transport workers on Paturia-Daulatdia route were facing immense sufferings as they were waiting several hours at both sides to cross the river.

Navigability crisis and BIWTA’s dredging work were hampering the ferry services on the route, said BIWTC Paturia ferry terminal officials.

Since August 28, BIWTA started excavation work at the approach channel of the route and in adjacent areas to Paturia terminal as water in the river was dipping daily, they continued.

Following the works, the ferries have been coming from Daulatdia through an alternative channel while during the journey from Paturia, the ferries were using the old channel.

On Friday, at Paturia terminal area, the ferries, including Shah Ali, Shahjalal AND Amanat, were seen waiting at least half an hour to unload at Paturia terminal due to the presence of huge number of vehicles.

What compounded the situation further is that the number of trips by ferries reduced due to the fact that ferries were taking longer to cross the route.

BIWTC Aricha regional office deputy general manager Zillur Rahman said that normally 2,500 to 3,000 vehicles daily cross the river by Paturia-Daulatdia channel.

On Thursday, around 4,000 vehicles crossed the river by this route due to suspended ferry services on other routes, he said.

Currently, 19 ferries were operational on the route and they were allowing passenger vehicles to go first, he added.