Ferry delayed for Hannan Masud MP, passengers suffer

Allegations have emerged in Hatia, Noakhali that a ferry''s departure was delayed by nearly two hours in order to accommodate local Member of Parliament Abdul Hannan Masud. The incident reportedly occurred last Sunday night at Nalachira Ghat in Hatia.

According to local residents, the ferry Mahananda departed from Chairman Ghat in Harani union at around 4:15 pm and arrived at Nalachira Ghat in Hatia at 5:45 pm. Under normal operating procedures, loading and unloading passengers, vehicles, and cargo takes a maximum of about one hour and fifteen minutes. Based on that schedule, the ferry was supposed to depart again for Chairman Ghat at around 7:00 pm. However, it reportedly left nearly two hours later than the designated departure time.

Passengers alleged that bookings for motorcycles and other vehicles had been taken since the afternoon for crossing on the ferry. However, after the ferry arrived at the terminal and was unloaded, the vehicles that had been booked were not being allowed to board. The ferry remained docked for an extended period, so passengers on board suffered significant inconvenience. In particular, women and children were affected by the hot and humid weather.

One passenger, Jasim Uddin, told Prothom Alo, “After the scheduled departure time had passed, I asked the authorities why the ferry was not leaving. They told us that the MP would arrive first, and only then would the ferry depart. As a result, several hundred people on the ferry were inconvenienced.”

Several passengers also complained that because the ferry did not depart on time, they were unable to reach Chairman Ghat, Sonapur, or the district headquarters of Maijdee in time to catch overnight buses to Dhaka.

Consequently, many had to spend the entire night waiting at bus counters.
The ferry’s master, Mozammel Haque, said, “The ferry arrived at Nalachira Ghat at 5:40 pm. Normally unloading and loading each take about 40 minutes. However, we had been informed in advance that the MP would be arriving, so the ferry’s departure would be delayed somewhat. For that reason, we initially did not allow vehicles to board. This caused passengers to become agitated. Later, after 8:00 pm, we departed for Chairman Ghat.” He claimed that the ferry’s departure was delayed by about 45 minutes compared with the normal schedule.

When contacted for comment, Member of Parliament Abdul Hannan Masud told Prothom Alo that a vested-interest group and an unethical syndicate had deliberately created disorder at the ferry terminal. According to him, the group had kept motorcycles, trucks, microbuses, and other vehicles waiting on the road for hours instead of allowing them onto the ferry, causing severe traffic congestion on roads near the terminal.

He said that the same tactic had been used the previous day to inconvenience ordinary passengers and divert attention from the real issue. He alleged that the objective was to politically discredit him and portray him as ineffective.

Abdul Hannan Masud further stated that he had arrived at the ferry terminal at the scheduled time and had himself been forced to wait for about 45 minutes after arriving. He said that misleading information was being spread about the incident for political purposes.