Staff Reporter :
Eighty nine persons were killed in boat accidents in different riverine routes of the country in the last four months. It is apprehended that the number of causalities would increase if the trend continues.
In 2016, 279 persons were killed while the number was 359 in 2015, the National Committee to Protect Shipping, Roads and Railways (NCPSRR) disclosed this on Friday at a discussion held at Mukti Bhaban of Comrade Moni Singh Road in the city.
Revealing the above information, the NCPSRR demanded the government for taking immediate step to impose ban on plying of illegal vessels during the season of natural disaster ahead of Eid-ul Fitr.
It also urged the government for conducting operation of mobile courts against the faulty and unregistered vehicles those ply usually without survey.
Chief Adviser of the NCPSRR Manjurul Ahsan Khan was the key discussant at the meeting while its Adviser Md Shahid Mia presided over it. Committee’s General Secretary Ashish Kumar Dey presented the key-note paper on the occasion. Professor of Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology [BUET] Mir Tareque Ali said a single vessel needs to go through minimum 21 tests during a survey. “But in our country, the Marine Vessels get survey certificates just within 20 minutes,” he said.
Taking part in the discussion, Member-Secretary of Unnayan Dhara raised the issue of increasing boat accidents in the country’s haor areas and demanded to take protective measures to reduce the rate of accidents. Other speakers at the meeting demanded the government to resolve the problems of passengers, including properly installation of platoons, stairway and gangway. They also demanded to take stringent measures against brokers and carrying of excessive passengers on the boats. The meeting also raised a 10-point charter of demands where taking tough action against lawbreaker vessels, owners, masters and drivers were sought. Besides, demands were made for transmitting of weather forecast through radio, television and loudspeaker during disaster season. Official sources said that apart from passenger carrying vessels, about 66,000 unregistered fishing trawlers are allegedly plying on the waterways across the country where majority of these trawlers are used to carry different contrabands, including Yaba. There are widespread allegations that as both the Mercantile Marine Department [MMD] and the Department of Fisheries [DoF] allow unregistered trawlers to ply, the smugglers are choosing the waterways as a safe route.
The DoF is responsible for giving permission for fishing. The MMD is responsible for giving fitness certificates to fishing trawlers and registering them. It was learnt that the DoF had given fishing permission to 68,000 trawlers, but only 8,000 of them have got fitness certificates and registrations from MMD. Another 5,500 fishing trawlers have not renewed their fitness certificates over the years.
So, some 65,500 fishing trawlers are plying on the waterways without any fitness certificate or registration.
Admitting the situation, Md Shafiqul Islam, Principal Officer of the MMD, said that they cannot monitor them properly due to lack of manpower.
