Staff Reporter :
Launch owners across the country urged the government to allow resumption of services from May 24.
Bangladesh Inland Waterways Passenger Carrier Association (BIWPCA) made the call at a media conference at Sadarghat Launch Terminal in Dhaka on Saturday to press home its six-point demand.
BIWPCA Senior Vice President Badiuzzaman Badal said that they had written to the principal secretary to the prime minister, state minister for shipping and the BIWTA chairman on May 5 for stimulus packages to pay salaries and bonuses of workers.
“We urge the government to release it immediately,” he said.
Besides the call for resumption of passenger services, the owners also demanded a six-month waiver on advance income tax, survey and registration fees for the shipping ministry and interest on bank loans.
Urging the government to allow launches to operate in compliance with health safety rules, the BIWPCA leader said, “We have been hit hard due to the pandemic. The government has resumed services on some routes. That’s why we are urging them to allow launch operations”.
With operations completely suspended, launch operators are finding it hard to pay their employees, he said before adding: “Amid the second wave of the Covid-19 in March, we were allowed to carry passengers at half the capacity, when we were at least being able to pay the workers and clear interest on loans.”
The business leader asked the government to arrange for launches at Mawa and Aricha for crossing the Padma River in a bid to facilitate the return of Eid holidaymakers from southern Bangladesh.
“Even 220 launches are not enough to transport all the passengers travelling to the 21 districts in the south-west for Eid. It’s possible for those millions of passengers to cross the river through a few ferries meant for vehicles,” he said.
Authorities, however, say that they have no plans to allow launch services to resume.
BIWTA Chairman Golam Sadeq said on Saturday no decision has been taken about passenger services amid a surge in coronavirus infections.
He, however, said that the issue is being discussed at the “policymaking level.”
Passenger launch services have remained suspended since early April, when the government imposed Covid-19 restrictions due to a surge in infections.
