Editorial
Bad ferry services costing the economy dearly
Authorities' laid-back attitude has led up to present systemic dysfunction
THE ferry situation on both sides of the river Padma is now in a critical state. On the Paturia-Daulatdia and Mawa-Kawrakandi routes, vehicles of all kinds as well as thousands of people remain stranded for as many as sixteen hours because a very large number of the ferries that are usually in service have of late become inoperative. Of the thirteen ferries on the Paturia-Daulatdia route, six have simply gone out of order. On the Mawa-Kawrakandi route, the ferries are so timeworn that they have nearly been rendered incapable of providing services any more.
This is certainly bad news, but worse is the fact that a remarkable degree of lethargy appears to have gone into the question of making the ferries operable again. Many of the ferries now out of order were sent to the Narayanganj dockyard over a period of the last many months but till date nothing has been done to quicken repair work on them and send them back to service. Two ferries, the Shah Jalal and Barkat, developed engine failure a few days ago as a result of which ferry services have become even more acute. Now, while a suspension of ferry services or a dislocation of them causes immense sufferings to people and results in a huge number of vehicles being stranded for hours, even for days, in a row, the bigger problem is that these vehicles, mostly trucks, happen to carry perishable goods to different parts of the country. Bad ferry services, therefore, only exacerbate the problem, to the extent that when goods are ruined traders stand to lose a huge amount of money. At the same time, there is a distinct possibility that the non-movement of vehicles because of ferry shortage or suspension will cause supply ruptures and push up the prices of commodities.
The matter should draw a swift and effective response from the BIWTC authorities. It is not enough to inform people that ferries have gone out of order. Everyone knows that. The authorities should have planned out ferry operations, repair and maintenance in order for the system not to have reached this dysfunctional state. What is now unquestionably more important is when and how fast they can be repaired and put back into service. It is especially at this time of year, when the water level in the rivers rises and the currents are generally stronger than usual, thereby slowing down ferry movement, that uninterrupted ferry services are an absolute necessity. But such unfettered movement can only be possible if meaningful measures are initiated towards repairing the unworkable ferries as well as replacing some of them with new acquisitions. If all the ten ferries on the Mawa-Kawrakandi route are over six decades old, it certainly says something about the decrepit state the entire ferry system has fallen into.
Might the authorities give some serious attention to these questions?
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