Truckers and bus passengers are suffering immensely as ferry service on the Paturia-Daulatdia ferry route is being hampered due to a shortage of ferries for the last 20 days. The route across the Padma is an important gateway to 21 southern and southwestern districts from Dhaka. People moving to and from the capital through the route have to wait for hours to cross the mighty river while goods-laden trucks count loss for remaining stranded. Normally, 22 ferries ply on the Paturia-Daulatdia ferry route. But now 17 ferries are in operation as four have been sent to the dockyard for overhauling. Another ferry – Shah Amanat – capsized at the terminal on October 27. If all the 22 ferries are operated around 8,000 vehicles can be transported daily. But now 17 ferries transport 6,000 vehicles a day.
At Daulatdia point, over 500 buses and 200 goods-laden trucks were seen lined up stretching about four kilometres from the terminal the other day. Around 400 trucks were seen waiting on the Rajbari-Kushtia regional highway from Goalanda intersection to Aladipur area, about 13 kilometres away from the Daulatdia ferry terminal. Traffic police kept the goods-laden vehicles waiting there so that a large number of trucks do not throng the terminal at a time and create traffic chaos.
Some drivers and helpers of goods-laden vehicles have to wait there for days. Many truck drivers are frustrated over the role of terminal authorities concerned. Long traffic jams occur here all year round due to the poor management of the terminal authorities. The terminal management is allowing passenger vehicles and perishable goods carrying vehicles to board ferries on a priority basis. This explains why the tailback of goods laden vehicles is getting longer. The crisis cannot be overcome until new ferries are added to the fleet.
