S M Mizanur Rahman :Over 500 rundown and unfit launches are set to sail ahead of the holy Eid-ul-Fitr throwing thousands of homebound people’s lives into risk, source said.The ship workers in Keraniganj dockyards are passing their busy times round the clock for refurbishing such faulty and date expired water vessels to give them cosmetic look in a bid to attract the home-bound passengers from different places of the country, including capital Dhaka. More than five million people are expected to leave the capital for the southern part by launches ahead of the Eid. Launch and other water vessel owners operate more trips ahead of the Eid as the number of passengers increases during the period. Many of the faulty and unfit vessels got route permit and fitness certificate from the authorities concerned in exchange kickbacks, it was alleged. It was further alleged that officials of the concerned department took Taka ten thousand to One lakh for allowing the unfit vessels to risky voyage. Several hundred workers at different dockyards were seen busy repairing and painting the launches and other water vessels.Besides, most launches have major defects in engines or design faults, said repairers in dockyards. They could not tell whether the launches have any fitness certificates or not.”As our owner asked us to give a good shape to the launch by repairing and painting, we are working here round the clock. We are working hard to complete our job before the Eid as the vessel owners are putting pressure on us to get the work finished as soon as possible,” a ship worker said. According to the sources, out of 500 faulty and unfit launches, over 250 are more vulnerable and risky as their longevity has already expired many years ago. Besides, these launches do not have skilled masters and route permit.According to Shipping Ministry, a section of corrupt officials of the Directorate of Shipping and the Management Department of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority are issuing fitness certificate and route permit to the owners of rundown and unfit launches in exchange for bribe.The owners of launches and other water vessels are also putting pressure on the officials of Directorate of Shipping and the Management Department of BIWTA to make their unfit vessels fit as they have good link with influential political leaders. Talking to The New Nation on Sunday Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan said that as his Ministry is facing manpower crisis, specially surveyor, it is very difficult to check all around.”I’m not denying the allegations. But all allegations are not correct. I have heard that a few launches are being repaired in different dockyards ahead of the Eid. I have already taken the allegations into cognizance. And instruction has also been issued to the concerned officials in this regard” he said.Referring to the number of launch and water vessels, he said it is not correct.”Our Ministry as well as BIWTA will take stern action if any unfit launch plies during the Eid,” he said, adding they have only three surveyors and four inspectors to verify fitness of over 11,308 registered vessels.”We have taken all necessary measures to ensure safety of passengers and make their journeys hassle-free. Special monitoring teams will be vigilant to check plying of unfit and overloaded vessels,” Shahjahan Khan said. According to a government’s study, lack of monitoring and faulty design of vessels led to 567 major accidents that claimed more than 4,635 lives in the last 40 years. Besides, 500 people went missing and 462 were injured during the period.According to BIWTA, over 5,500 people drowned and 1,236 went missing in launch disasters across the country over the last 20 years. However, the unofficial number of death toll would be much higher than the government’s statistic.
