Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation suspended ferry service on Paturia-Daulatdia route due to strong current in Padma River that has already damaged three landing stations at Daulatdia ghat.
BIWTC also advised all heavy transports users to take alternative roads like Bangabandhu Bridge as they were unlikely to resume normal ferry operations very soon.
BIWTC assistant general manager of Aricha Ghat, Zillur Rahman, told New Age on Sunday that the ferry service for heavy vehicles including buses, trucks and pick-ups on Paturia-Daulatdia has been suspended at 2pm to avoid any untoward incident.
The heavy vehicles were also advised to use alternative roads and many of them started taking the alternative roads following the advice, he said.
The higher authorities have visited the Paturia-Daulatdia ghats to take steps to rebuild ghats but ferry movement is unlikely to resume within a day or two, he said.
Zillur Rahman, however, said that six small ferries remained operational to ferry only light vehicles.
The official said three out of four landing stations were washed away at Daulatdia ghat while the remaining one was under threat of being eroded by the Padma river.
New Age Correspondent in Manikganj reported that the chairman of BIWTC Md Mizanur Rahman and chairman of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority Commodore M Mozammel Haque visited the Paturia and Daulatdia ferry terminals at around 3pm.
After visiting the ghat area, the BIWTC chairman said ferry service will remain stopped until alternative landing stations have been built. ‘We will not take any risk’, he added.
Meanwhile, BIWTC officials blamed BIWTA for the disruption of the service. More than two hundreds letters were sent to the BIWTA for taking steps to make alternative landing stations to keep ferry service normal, said Sheikh Mohammad Nasim, deputy general manager of BIWTC.
But the organisation did not take any initiative to keep the ferry service normal by making alternative landing stations there, he alleged.
When contacted, executive engineer of BIWTA Nijam Uddin Pathan said he had informed his superiors about the situation.
There are 18 ferries including nine Ro Ro, six itility and three K-type ferries in the Paturia-Daulatdia ferry service.
The ferry service was disrupted for 15 consecutive days starting July 20 due to strong current and shortage of ferries.
The landing station No. 1 was damaged on July 27 due to the strong current on the river. Most of the road of landing station No. 2 was damaged by erosion, according to the BIWTC officials.
Meanwhile, the floodwater was retreating gradually from the affected areas due to fall in water levels in the major river systems, while waterborne diseases continued to spread.
The Flood Forecasting Warning Centre said that the Brahmaputra-Jamuna, the Ganges-Padma and Surma-Kushiyara were in a falling state and the flood situation continued improving in low lands adjacent to Rajbari, Manikganj, Munshiganj and Shariatpur districts.
National Health Crisis Management Centre said that the death toll from the floods rose to 87 until Sunday while the number of patients stood at 7,760 since July 25, at various hospitals.
Some 79 people, mostly minor children, drowned while eight died of snake bites, said officials at the centre.
New Age Correspondent in Kurigram reported that one child drowned in flood water at Roumari upazila in Kurigram on Sunday.
The deceased was identified as Faria, 2, daughter of Jahangir Alam of village Ichakuri under Roumari Sadar upazila.
Roumari Upazila Health and Family Planning Officer Mahfuzur Rahman confirmed the incident.
Roumari Sadar union council chairman Shahidul Islam Salu said the child Faria went near the flood water and fell into it.
Local people recovered the body and immediately took it to Roumari upazila Health Complex where the attending doctors declared her dead.
In Bogra, the body of college student who went missing on Saturday after going to take a bath in Jamuna was recovered on Sunday.
He was identified as Roni Hossain, 20, a BBA third year student of government Shah Sultan College and a resident of Malgram in Bogra town.
Police and witnesses said that the body was found floating at Dighalkandi Groyen area in Sariakandi.
Source: New Age
