The Ferry operations on three routes---Paturia-Daulatdia, Aricha-Kazirhat, and Dhawaipara-Nazirganj, connecting south-western and northern region has resumed at 9: am on Wednesday (December 11), following a suspension of eight-and-a-half-hour caused by dense fog.
Of those, the Daulatdia-Paturia route was shut down at 12:30:am on Tuesday, Aricha-Kazirhat and Dhawaipara-Nazirganj routes ceasing at 12:40:am.
However, ferry services on the Aricha-Kazirhat route resumed slightly earlier at 8:45:am.
During this time, four ferries were forced to anchor on the river near the terminals.
Nasir Mohammad Chowdhury, Deputy General Manager of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) at Aricha office noted that dense fog has disrupted operations on key ferry routes for the second day in a row.
He said, the fog thickened as the night progressed. They are forced to suspend ferry operations.
Experiencing an earlier Tuesday, he added that the authority was forced to suspend ferry service from 4.30:am and continued to 8.30:am.
Besides, the situation pushes the vehicles, especially the passengers into severe plight.
On Wednesday, the prolonged halt left over 200 vehicles stranded at the terminals, leading to significant inconvenience for both passengers and drivers of the other vehicles.
The disruption caused extensive delays for vehicles traveling from the southern districts to Dhaka. Many buses from Kushtia, Meherpur, Chuadanga, and Barisal, which arrived at the terminals after midnight, were forced to wait for hours.
Hashem Ali, a supervisor of SB Transport from Kushtia, reported that buses scheduled to arrive in Dhaka by 5:am were delayed at the terminal, causing significant hardship for passengers.
The BIWTC official Nasir Mohammad Chowdhury said, such disruptions are seasonal phenomena and are expected to continue for several more days.
“We have no good news on weather,” he said, adding that “Our prediction is that “We will face this for several more days.”
Currently, 26 ferries operate across these three routes.