Reza Mahmud :
Though Sadarghat river terminal is playing the role as a main hub of river transportation for the passengers of the southern districts, this noisy and dirty terminal may seem not friendly to many travelers. Now it becomes a place of beggars, vendors and porters
Taking the advantage of huge mismanagement, the place becomes more chaotic when a launch or ferry arrived at the terminal. Hawkers move around to sell their products and street children move around to find help from others.
“There are huge mismanagements at the Sadarghat Launch Terminal that cause immense sufferings to thousands of passengers from the southern districts. Launch workers also collect extra money from passengers creating pressures whenever they bring any type of household materials like cupboards or kitchen shelves. If any passenger want to give them less money, they misbehave,” alleged Kamal Ahmed, a regular passenger from Sadarghat to Patuakhali.
The other passengers accused that the ticket sellers and checkers are involved in widespread corruption. They also recycle tickets illegally to make cash.
“The employees of ticket counter and the terminal gates start ticket selling from afternoon, when lots of passengers rush to the terminal,” said Shahidul Alam from the ghat area.
“The checkers kept the tickets from passengers and stored those. After storing a handful tickets, they start recycling those with the collaboration of ticket sellers,” he said.
He said the government loses huge amount of money from the terminal for these corrupt employees.
The cleaners of the terminal are randomly throwing all kinds of waste and dust in to the river water, which is mostly liable for pollutions of the Buriganga River. There are some waste bins in the terminal but found those out of use.
“No body use that bins, we have thrown all dusts and wastage into river water everyday,” said one cleaner when asked.
The cleaners also kept dust and other garbage under the stairs of the pontoons, which makes the environment ugly and polluted. There were huge wastage like abandoned sacks, rotten apples, oranges, mangos and abandoned plastic covers of apples that have been seen floating in the water between terminal dock and the river bank.
Both the cleaners and fruits vendors were throwing the garbage into the river. He alleged that the hawkers also create anarchy in the terminal with the launch commuters.
Md. Hasan, an engine worker of a launch, said, vendors were banned as they create huge problems in the terminal. They frequently start quarrel with passengers.
But nowadays, the vendors came back again. They also have started selling and making noise with passengers. It needs to be stopped, he added.
When contacted, the Chairman of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), Commodore Mohammad Mozammel Haque, told The New Nation, “We have formed a surveillance team to monitor all kinds of irregularities of the terminal.”
When his attention was drawn to the ticket recycling, he said, “I have gotten such allegations. Journalists should take some video footage about such misdeeds, which may help us to identify those culprits who involved with that. We also directed the surveillance team to monitor it closely.”
About throwing dust and other wastage into river, the BITWA Chairman said, the city corporation is liable to collect dust and garbage from every areas of the city. We have contacted with the city corporation authorities and they ensured us to set some dustbins inside the terminal soon. After getting those, the wastage management will be easier for us.
Though Sadarghat river terminal is playing the role as a main hub of river transportation for the passengers of the southern districts, this noisy and dirty terminal may seem not friendly to many travelers. Now it becomes a place of beggars, vendors and porters
Taking the advantage of huge mismanagement, the place becomes more chaotic when a launch or ferry arrived at the terminal. Hawkers move around to sell their products and street children move around to find help from others.
“There are huge mismanagements at the Sadarghat Launch Terminal that cause immense sufferings to thousands of passengers from the southern districts. Launch workers also collect extra money from passengers creating pressures whenever they bring any type of household materials like cupboards or kitchen shelves. If any passenger want to give them less money, they misbehave,” alleged Kamal Ahmed, a regular passenger from Sadarghat to Patuakhali.
The other passengers accused that the ticket sellers and checkers are involved in widespread corruption. They also recycle tickets illegally to make cash.
“The employees of ticket counter and the terminal gates start ticket selling from afternoon, when lots of passengers rush to the terminal,” said Shahidul Alam from the ghat area.
“The checkers kept the tickets from passengers and stored those. After storing a handful tickets, they start recycling those with the collaboration of ticket sellers,” he said.
He said the government loses huge amount of money from the terminal for these corrupt employees.
The cleaners of the terminal are randomly throwing all kinds of waste and dust in to the river water, which is mostly liable for pollutions of the Buriganga River. There are some waste bins in the terminal but found those out of use.
“No body use that bins, we have thrown all dusts and wastage into river water everyday,” said one cleaner when asked.
The cleaners also kept dust and other garbage under the stairs of the pontoons, which makes the environment ugly and polluted. There were huge wastage like abandoned sacks, rotten apples, oranges, mangos and abandoned plastic covers of apples that have been seen floating in the water between terminal dock and the river bank.
Both the cleaners and fruits vendors were throwing the garbage into the river. He alleged that the hawkers also create anarchy in the terminal with the launch commuters.
Md. Hasan, an engine worker of a launch, said, vendors were banned as they create huge problems in the terminal. They frequently start quarrel with passengers.
But nowadays, the vendors came back again. They also have started selling and making noise with passengers. It needs to be stopped, he added.
When contacted, the Chairman of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), Commodore Mohammad Mozammel Haque, told The New Nation, “We have formed a surveillance team to monitor all kinds of irregularities of the terminal.”
When his attention was drawn to the ticket recycling, he said, “I have gotten such allegations. Journalists should take some video footage about such misdeeds, which may help us to identify those culprits who involved with that. We also directed the surveillance team to monitor it closely.”
About throwing dust and other wastage into river, the BITWA Chairman said, the city corporation is liable to collect dust and garbage from every areas of the city. We have contacted with the city corporation authorities and they ensured us to set some dustbins inside the terminal soon. After getting those, the wastage management will be easier for us.
