Strong current and on going erosion in the Padma River are disrupting the ferry services on Mawa-Kawrakandi waterway. On Friday, four ferries halted operation due to a strong current resulting in only 12 ferries, including Ro Ro, transporting a large number of vehicles.
The setting up of the third ferry terminal is also being hampered by the strong current and sudden erosion.
Shortage of ferries and terminals have resulted in transfer time stretching to as long as 5-7 hours.
The sluggish service has stranded more than 500 vehicles, carrying passengers and goods, on the Mawa side for the last 3-4 days creating a two kilometre long tailback. Assistant Manager of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC), Shekhor Chandra Roy said, construction of the third ferry terminal was underway but it could not be confirmed when the terminal would be operational.
In the meantime, the Ro Ro ferry terminal had started operating on Thursday after 45 hours of suspension. The ferry terminal-2 had been converted into the Ro Ro ferry terminal after the latter collapsed due to erosion on Tuesday.
The main ferry terminal at Mawa was destroyed by erosion in 2012. The new terminal is also now at risk of being inoperable. However, the authority seemed nonchalant about this.
Assistant General Manager of BIWTC, AKM Ashiquzzaman Chowdhury said: “The situation will not improve unless all the three terminals are operating. It can take another 10-15 days to set up the third terminal. Until then, the terminal-2 will have to do the job.”
More than 60 business establishments have gone under water since the erosion began last Tuesday. Another 20-25 shops and establishments are being relocated to escape the erosion.
The traffic situation is worse on the Kawrakandi point, where about thousand vehicles have been stranded for the last two days. The four kilometre long tailback has surpassed Haji Shariatullah Bridge area adding to the suffering of thousands of people in the 21 districts.