Fear and frenzy on waterways

With Eid holidays barely two weeks away, the country's water transport sector is getting ready for the peak season of their business.  However, nearly half of the registered vessels opted out of the mandatory fitness test with thousands of unregistered vessels still taking to the waters, according to industry experts.

The continued operation of faulty, unfit and unregistered vessels has become a serious cause for concern for the thousands of people who will travel through the waterways during this period. 

Ahead of the Eid vacation, launch owners could be seen refurbishing their vessels. They said that they are doing these “regular works” to attract passengers and claimed all of the vessels have fitness certificates.

But experts and activists questioned the timing of the refurbishment work and the means of getting fitness certificates.

Visiting several dockyards in Keraniganj, on the bank of Buriganga, on June 10, this correspondent found over a dozen launches undergoing refurbishment, apparently to give a new look to them to attract passengers.

Some of the workers were doing welding works while some were painting the bodies of the launches and some others were setting furniture.

A staff of Rasel-1, a launch plying on Dhaka-Patuakhali route, said they started refurbishment works three months ago and hope to complete it within a week. “It takes a long time as a lot of changes have been made,” he said.

Asked about the fitness, he said, “Sure we have [fitness certificate]. It is not possible to ply launch without this certificate.”

A staff of Jamal-11, previously named Dweepraj-2, said that they have already completed refurbishment work. “Every year, we do this ahead of the Eid to attract passengers,” he said.

Workers were seen carrying out similar works in Eagle-3, Rasel-3 Jamal-7, Parabat-8, Parabat-10 and several other vessels.

OF REGISTERED AND UNREGISTERED VESSELS

Contacted, AKM Fakrul Islam, chief engineer and ship surveyor of the Department of Shipping, said there are some 11,000 registered water vessels in the country now and of them, passenger carriers are 850. The shipping department is responsible for giving registration and yearly-fitness certificate.

On the other hand, there are some 30,000 mechanised boats which were not registered. As per the law, any mechanised boat, which is run by a 16-horse-power machine, must be registered with the shipping department, he said.

Among the registered vessels, the department could survey fitness of some 6200 registered vessels this year (2016-17), said Farkrul. He, however, claimed all passenger carriers have gone through the fitness survey.

According to a departmental document titled “Annual Performance Agreement 2016” signed between the shipping department and the shipping ministry, 5500 vessels went through the survey in 2014-15 while 5700 were surveyed in 2015-2016. In these two years, 1,110 vessels received registration, the document shows.

Replying to a question, he said there are only five surveyors in the department and “it is possible to survey all registered vessels' theoretically, not practically.”

About the huge number of vessels which remain out of the mandatory survey, he said many owners do not apply for survey. “Some owners can ply their vessels in remote areas due to the lack of necessary manpower.” 

Queried on the huge number of unregistered vessels, he said they have a plan to carry out a survey of the unregistered vessels soon under a project titled “Ships and Mechanised Boats Data Entry Project” which was sent to the planning ministry for final approval, he added.

FIT FOR COLLISIONS  

Contacted Prof Mir Tareque Ali of the Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, said plying of unregistered and unfit vessels alongside fit and registered vessel is a serious threat for inland waterways.

In many cases, launch accidents happen due to the collision of two vessels and in most of the cases, unfit and unregistered vessels were found responsible, he said adding, “Unregistered and unfit vessels are security threat for fit launches too.”

He also questioned the process of giving fitness certificate. “They [surveyors] gave fitness certificate without following due procedure. They did not give sufficient time to complete the due procedure,” he added.

Ashis Kumar Dey, general secretary of the National Committee to Protect Shipping, Road and Railway, said some unscrupulous launch owners usually operate their unfit vessels in relatively unimportant routes, “managing the officials of Shipping department and BIWTA.”

But, ahead of the Eid festival, they apply for fitness certificate after doing some refurbishing works on their launches, and eventually get the certificate as the officials remain busy with others tasks.

Fakrul Islam, however, refuted the allegations.

He said the launch owners try to give their launches a new look to attract passengers and they paint the vessels and repair windowpanes. “Our officer at Dhaka Sadarghat office is regularly doing survey work, which is being done on a scheduled basis. Unscheduled surveys are very rare,” he said.

Regarding unregistered vessels, Ashis Kumar Dey, author of the book “Rivers of Bangladesh and Water Transport System,” said unregistered vessels are one of the main reasons for launch accidents. He gave examples where unregistered vessels were responsible for the accidents.

In February 2005, MV Moharaj capsized when a sand-laden unregistered vessel hit the vessel and MV Sharos capsized in February 2013 after being hit by an unregistered oil tanker, he said.

OVERLOADED AND OVERLOOKED

Reaz ul Kabir, director of Surovi Group of Company, which operates several launches on different routes, claimed the overall security preparation this year is far better than previous years.

“We operate our launches following all rules and laws,” he said.

Asked about overloading, he said 'It's is very difficult to control it. When a passenger boards a launch, it is difficult to force him off,” he said.

Owing to the many inland waterways and slack safety standards, the country sees launch disasters on a regular basis, with death tolls sometimes rising to a hundred. But incidents of punishing people responsible for the disasters are rare.

At least 5,666 passengers died and 1,368 people remained missing in launch accidents from 1993 to 2016, Ashis Kumar Dey, mentioned in his book, citing different sources.

Meanwhile, the authorities concerned mentioned that keeping the rainy season in mind, they have taken heavy precautions this time around.