Move to allow 300 unfit watercrafts to cross Bay

If the department allows them, frequent accidents may take place in the Bay and block port channels,Mercantile Marine Department (MMD) sources said.

A proposal was placed in this regard at a meeting of the Inland Shipping Council in the Ministry of Shipping on May 22.

This proposal will only jeopardise the entire water route from Chittagong to Dhaka and will surely benefit the influential group, sources said.

A four-member committee was also formed to give permission for those watercrafts examining proper fitness.

A ship named InlandÊ1 (M-20121) was surveyed recently as per decision of the committee and a lot of defects were found. But that inland ship was permitted for bay crossing, sources said.

There are evidences that the deficiencies were tactfully avoided. Following this incident, three more ships, namely Gazi (M 6905), AL-SAMIT-2 (M 6914), AL-SAMIT-3 (M 6867), were permitted for the service.

Seven thousand registered and around 12000 unregistered watercrafts are to comply the regulations of Inland Shipping Ordinance 1976, sources said. As per ordinance they are entitled to ply within inland waterways.

The ships are built locally without supervision of the naval architect. Most of them are built with used steel and are not fit to ply in the rough water like Bay of Bengal, sources said.

Though the Inland Ship Safety Administration (ISSA) is not implemented yet, a powerful vested quarter in the department is lobbying for permission of 300 inland watercrafts to ply between Chittagong and Dhaka via Bay of Bengal.

The incident of sinking of the inland ship 'Evana' on June 5 this year near Chittagong coastal area proves that inland ship safety issues are totally neglected by the shipping department, an expert at the Mercantile Marine Department (MMD) told this correspondent.

As there are no legal ground for this type of bay crossing, the vested group was trying to find an alternative way. They evolved a means that ships having 'boat note' and other receipt of dues by Chittagong Port Authority would be permitted to cross the Bay without survey and round the year. A top official issued an office order on April 20 in this regard, sources said.

The MMD expert said it has been highlighted in many accident reports that the inland ships are unfit even for inland water and as such the initiative by the department is alarming.

Recent statistics shows that Fazilat-1, C-1063, Hang Gang - 3, Fairtech-1, Queen of Firoza sank in anchorage in the Bay of Bengal within port limit. Foreign going ships with deep draft are barred from anchoring in that area, he said.