Prothom Alo
The Eid holiday is over and people from the southern region are streaming back to the capital city Dhaka. From Sunday morning, the river routes at Banglabazar in Madaripur and Shimulia in Munshiganj have been teeming with people making their way back to Dhaka. As the pressure of passengers mounts, traffic piles up at all the approach roads to the terminals.
According to sources at the BIWTC terminals, there had been immense crowds at the two ferries of the Banglabazar-Shimulia route and in the bustle, heat and rush, five people died in a stampede. After that, 13 to 15 of the 18 ferries were kept operational.
With crowds arriving at the terminals again from early Sunday morning, people are being given priority over vehicles on the ferries. Members of the law enforcement are on duty at the terminals.
Speaking to Prothom Alo at around 10:30am Sunday, BIWTC ferry terminal manager (commerce) Md Salauddin Ahmed said, “We have 18 ferries in our fleet. With pressure of Dhaka-bound people and vehicles mounting since the morning, 13 ferries are running. If the pressure of passengers and vehicles increases further, we will operate all the ferries if required.”
A visit to the Banglabazar ferry terminal Sunday morning saw people streaming to the terminal from various districts of the south. They were arriving in CNG-run auto-rickshaws, microbuses, easy-bikes, motorcycles and all sorts of transport. The four approach roads were jammed with cars. The ferries leaving for Shimulia were all crowded with passengers crossing the river Padma. Most of the passengers were not bothered about health and hygiene rules.
Liza Akhter, a passenger from Khulna, said, “I work at a garments factory in Chattogram. There are no buses from Khulna to Chattogram. We are suffering with no public transport. We have to make our way here by microbus and other vehicles at exorbitant fares. But things were fine at the ferry terminal and I could easily board the Enayetpuri ferry. It is crowded, though.”
Dhaka-bound passenger Imon Hossain is returning from Gopalganj. He said, “The factories open from Monday and so I have to reach Dhaka by today. I spent Eid with my family and am now returning to work.”
Sakib Hasan is returning from Barishal. He said, “With long-haul buses halted, we had to change our vehicles four times on the way to the terminal. This is tedious and the fares are ridiculous. This isn’t preventing coronavirus, it is just harassing the passengers.”
Traffic police inspector at the Banglabazar terminal, Md Ashiqur Rahman, said, “People are returning to Dhaka after the Eid holidays. The pressure of passengers has been mounting since the morning. There are more people than vehicles on the ferries. The upazila administration, police, ansars and fire service members are controlling the vehicles and passengers at the terminal. Most of the cars arriving along the approach road are private cars and we are ensuring these board the ferries the moment they arrive.”
* This report appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Ayesha Kabir
