Due to dense fog, ferry services on the Paturia-Daulatdia and Aricha-Kazirhat river routes in Shivalaya upazila of Manikganj have been suspended. A total of five ferries carrying passengers and vehicles are stranded in the middle of the Padma.
The authorities have suspended ferry services on the Aricha-Kazirhat and Paturia-Daulatdia river routes from 2 am on Tuesday and 3:30 am on Paturia-Daulatdia.
Confirming the matter, Nasir Hossain Chowdhury, DGM of the Commerce Department of the Aricha office of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation, said that fog started falling on the Shivalaya section of the Padma and Jamuna rivers since Tuesday evening. Around midnight, the Aricha-Kazirhat and Paturia-Daulatdia river routes were shrouded in fog. Due to which ferry traffic on the river route has become quite risky, ferry traffic on the Paturia-Daulatdia and Aricha-Kazirhat routes has been temporarily closed.
At this time, three ferries named Birshreshtha Jahangir, Banalata and Baigar are anchored in the Padma in the middle of the Paturia-Daulatdia river route and two ferries named Shah Ali and Krishani are anchored in the Jamuna in the middle of the Aricha-Kazirhat river route with passengers and vehicles. When the fog in the river area decreases, all those ferries will be brought to the safe ghat pontoon.
In addition, ferry traffic will resume when the fog in the river area decreases. Since ferry traffic has been closed for a long time, several vehicles are waiting to cross the river route in the ghat pontoon area of both ferry ghats.
Nasir Hossain Chowdhury said that if the ferry traffic returns to normal, relatively large vehicles will be allowed to cross the river route on priority basis.