Ferry services disrupted on Paturia-Daulatdia route

Ferry services on the key Paturia-Daulatdia route remained interrupted on Friday after strong current and erosion forced the closure of several berthing points at Daulatdia terminal, reports UNB.

With the terminal’s capacity diminished by half, hundreds of vehicles – passenger buses and goods-laden trucks – were stranded on both ends of the key route.

During a visit to Daulatdia ferry terminal in the afternoon, the UNB correspondent saw that erosion had forced the closure of pontoon No. 1 and 2.

Three out of six berthing points of the ferry terminal are now in operation.

The river had gobbled up about 50-metre of the connecting road of No. 3 pontoon on Thursday evening, forcing authorities to suspend operation.

Erosion hit both sides of the river as rain and strong wind battered the area in the last two days, said Shah Alam, deputy assistant engineer, Daulatdia BIWTC.

He said 14 out of 17 ferries are currently in operation. Three others are being repaired.

Alam hoped the No. 3 berthing point will be back in operation by Saturday evening or Sunday morning.

The authorities had to close the two berthing points for strong current from Wednesday afternoon, said officials at Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC).

BIWTC executive engineer Md Nizam Uddin and additional chief engineer Forhad Uzzaman visited the damaged spots on Thursday evening.