Staff Reporter :
Over 400 vessels crossed River Shela to reach Mongla port on Wednesday, soon after the government reopened the route through the mangrove forest for water traffic in the morning.
Despite call from the UN experts to shut the route, the Shipping Ministry took the decision to allow movement of water transports within 26 days of the oil spillage following threat by river vessel workers.
An inter-ministry meeting at the Ministry on Tuesday endorsed ‘controlled movement of vessels’ under the supervision of the Coast Guards and Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA).
Only the volunteers of the forest department made announcement with loud speakers and called for steady movement of vehicles.
But almost none paid heed to such caution.
However, no oil tanker was seen to cross the river on Wednesday. On 11 December, the government closed the route after the capsize of an oil tanker carrying 325,000 litres of furnace oil on 9 December.
Environmental experts warned of a devastating impact on the mangrove forest of the oil spill and recommended closure of the Shela route for the sake of bio-diversity of the forest.
Before reopening of the route, more than 500 vessels were waiting at Mongla, Khulna, Swarankhola, Kaukhali and adjoining areas. They were carrying fertilizers, oil salt, cement and raw materials.
Forest department official Belayet Hossain said they remained alert to ensure that oil tankers do not move through the Sundarbans.
The Shela route came into operation in 2011 when the Mongla-Ghashiakhali Channel, used for shipping goods under Indo-Bangladesh river protocol, lost navigability.
“If good sense does not prevail even after such an incident, what can we say? Movement of vessels is dangerous for the forest and nobody can say such incident would not happen again,” said Abdul Harun Chowdhury, a professor of the Environmental Science Faculty at Khulna University.
However, the port users and authorities of the vessels expressed satisfaction at the reopening of the route for traffic.
