The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) will offer specially scheduled launch services for 13 days from Thursday July 24 until August 5, alongside regularly scheduled services, to meet the rush of Eid travellers, said the national river transport company.
Five vessels will be added to augment the number of regularly scheduled Dhaka departures, according to MA Matin, deputy general manager (commercial/passenger and ferry) of BIWTC.
Barisal and Narayanganj BIWTC stations will provide special tug boats and piloting services and will be prepared for emergencies, the BIWTC official said.
BIWTC sources said four paddle-wheel steamers, the PS Ostrich, PS Lepcha, PS Mahsud, PS Turn, and a screw-wheel motor vessel, the MV Banglaee, will provide extra tonnage on the routes to Chandpur, Barisal, Jhalakathi, Hularhut of Pirojpur and Morelganj of Bagerhat during the special Eid service period.
At least one regular and one special vessel will leave Dhaka each day, bound for different ports, said Gopal Chandra Majumdar, assistant general manager of BIWTC, Barisal.
Gopal Chandra said the vessels, with the exception of the MV Banglaee, will stop at Chandpur river port. He said ticket prices for BIWTC carriers will be the same for both regularly scheduled and specially scheduled trips. Aside from the MV Bangalee, he said cabin passengers’ tickets could only be collected from the Dhaka office and deck passengers’ tickets from their respective stations.
The BIWTC fare for a one-way journey on the 161 kilometre Dhaka-Barisal route will be Tk1050 per first class cabin seat, Tk630 per second class cabin seat and Tk170 per deck seat, compared with Tk1000-1100 per first class cabin seat (equivalent to second class on a steamer), Tk600 per sofa and Tk230-250 per deck seat charged by private services on the same route.
Sea trucks and the BIWTC vessel, LCT Kajal, will connect 11 stations on coastal routes under the Barisal, Bhola, Laxmipur, Noakhali and Chittagong districts including Maju Chowdhurir Hat, Manpura, Shashiganj, Ilisha, Charchenga, Boyarchar, Hatiya, Kumira and Guptachhara.
BIWTC coastal ships, MV Monirul Huq, MV Abdul Matin and MV Baro-Awlia, will operate on regular and special Eid schedules to connect destinations under Hatiya, Sandwip, and Chittagong ports.
Additional ferry trips will also be made on the Paturia-Daulatdia, Mawa-Keorakandi, Chandpur-Shariatpur, Bhola-Lakshmipur and Laharhat-Veduria river crossings during the Eid holiday rush, BIWTC sources added.
Eid-ul-Fitr, the Muslim festival celebrating the end of Ramadan, will likely fall on July 29 or 30, and office holidays will start on July 25.
