Staff Reporter :Road communications between Dhaka and 21 southern and south-western districts got snapped as all the landing stations at Daulatdia ferry terminal were eroded into river Padma on Sunday.The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) suspended ferry service on the Paturia-Daulatdia route and advised all to use Bangabandhu Bridge and Lalan Shah Bridge. The ferry service on the Paturia-Daulatdia was suspended at 10:00am on Sunday to avoid any untoward incident. “We advised all to use the Bangabandhu Bridge as an alternative route,” said Sheikh Mohammad Nasim, Deputy General Manager of BIWTC. He said every year they suffer such crisis in monsoon season. He hoped that they would be able to restore ferry communication by Monday.The Paturia-Doulatdia ferry route is one of the key points to connect southern Bangladesh with the rest of the country.Shafikul Islam, Manager (commerce) of BIWTC at Daulatdia office, said three out of four landing stations have been washed away while the rest one is also under threat of erosion of the Padma river. The locals said thousands of passengers from 17 southwestern districts have been suffering due to damaged landing stations, shortage of ferries and strong current on both sides of the Padma — Paturia in Manikganj and Daulatdia in Rajbari — for the last one-month. Around a thousand vehicles, including buses, trucks and cars, remained stranded on both ends of this important route. Passengers of about 200 buses have been facing immense sufferings including shortage of food and toilet facilities. Salimullah Khan, who was returning to Dhaka with five family members, said: “I am worried about reaching home in time.” ‘I have been here for long time with passing times with anxiety and frustration,’ said truck driver Moktar Hossain. The landing station No. 1 was damaged on July 27 due to the strong current of the river. Maximum portion of roads of landing station No. 2 was damaged by the erosion, according to the BIWTC officials.There are eighteen ferries including nine Ro Ro, six utility and three K-type ferries in Paturia-Daulatdia ferry service. Of them, K-type ferry ‘Kaberi’ was anchored at floating workshop ‘Madhumati’ near Paturia ferry terminal with engine problems, said Mohiuddin Rasel, Manager (commerce) of BIWTC at Aricha office.
