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Daulatdia Ferry Service

Restoration to take 2-3 more days

Our Correspondent, Manikganj
The users of Paturia-Daulatdia ferry services may not see a respite from sufferings before the end of this week.
The ferry service on this route had been suspended since Sunday as three out of the four landing stages (ghaat) at the Daulatdia terminal under Goalanda upazila of Rajbari district remain out of service.
BIWTA (Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority) hopes to bring ferry services at the terminal in full operation by this Thursday following the completion of repair work of the landing stages by Wednesday.
The BIWTA and Roads & Highways Department (RHD) of Rajbari are jointly working on to repair the out of order landing stations.
Nizam Uddin Pathan, executive engineer of BIWTA, said the repair work of the landing stages are expected to be completed by Wednesday. Bamboo piling and dumping of sand bags at landing station number 2 and 4 are going on at the moment.
However, according to Golam Mostafa, executive engineer of Roads and Highways Department at Rajbari, his department might not be able to complete repairing the damaged approach roads of landing stages 2 and 4 before Thursday.
In the meantime, the terminal authorities have been directing incoming vehicles to take a detour through either the Bangabandhu Bridge or Mawa ferry terminal routes.
During a visit to the Daulatdia ferry terminal yesterday, this correspondent found around 500 trucks waiting for the ferry services to resume.
Workers of Rajbari RHD were also seen dumping sand bags and piling bamboo posts at landing stage number 1 and 4.
Locals, however, see this work as a
waist of public funds as well as eyewash because the makeshift nature of the work will not withstand the immense force of strong currents ofthe Jamuna.
Sheikh Mohammad Nasim, deputy general manager of BIWTC, told this correspondent three small ferries have started to operate with passengers and private cars around 1:30pm, using landing stage 3, which is also partially damaged.
According to BIWTC officials, strong currents of the Jamuna caused damage to landing stage 4 on July 27 and landing stages 1 and 2 on August 6. Approach roads to landing stages 2 and 4 had also been damaged due to the same reason.
The fleet of Paturia-Daulatdia ferry services consist of eighteen ferries, but the service has gone unstable since July 20, due to ferry shortage and strong currents in the river.
Our Madaripur Correspondent adds:
The Shimulia-Kaorakandi ferry route on the River Padma is witnessing a heavier traffic as the Paturia-Daulatdia ferry services on the Jamuna remain unstable over the last few weeks.
Adding to the crisis, receding water level in the Padma has been causing poor navigability for the ferries on the route.
The operators are being forced to load fewer vehicles onto the ferries while reducing speed to avoid hitting underwater shoals (char) as well as damaging the vessels, resulting in longer queues of vehicles at the terminal.
Ahmed Ali, marine officer at Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation, said, two dredgers are operational for ensuring navigability of the rout, but the work is stalling