7-month ban on small water transports on 23 routes starts today
A small motorised boat carrying passengers on Buragouranga River on Galachipa-Charkazal route a few days ago. Thousands of people in the coastal islands of Patuakhali district depend on such unsafe transports even during the seven-month ban imposed by the government as authorities fail to arrange safer alternatives for their movement.Photo: STAR
The seven-month ban on plying of small water transports on 23 routes in the 'Danger Zone' of the coastal areas comes into effect from today. The ban, however, appears as an added worry to several lakh people, especially the inhabitants of over a hundred char areas in seven upazilas under the district, as authorities concerned have not arranged any alternative transport for them. According to ban order imposed by the government, all water transports that are lea than 65 feet long are not allowed to ply the coastal routes from March 15 to October 15 every year as frequent storms make journey on the routes risky. BIWTA sources said five launches Khijir-7, Khijir-8, Shaheed Salam, Shaheed Sheikh Kamal and Shaheed Jabbar are scheduled to ply five routes -- Barisal to Majuchowdhuryhat via Elisha, Dowlatkhan to Char Alexander, Mirzakalu to Char Alexander, Bhola to Monpura and Char Alexander to Tajumuddin routes during the ban period. But Khijir-8 and Shaheed Sheikh Kamal are waiting for repair at Narayanganj dockyard and Shaheed Jabbar is kept at Karnafuli dockyard in Chittagong. "No alternative measures have been taken yet on these routes during the ban period. But it should be made soon considering interest of the local people," said Shahidullah Mia, deputy director of BIWTA. In absence of any alternative safe transport on the routes during the ban period, local people, especially from char areas, often defy the ban when they need to communicate with upazila or district headquarters for urgent piece of works. But journey by small sized single-decker launches or country boats on these routes poses life risk for passengers. On May 15 in 2005, over a hundred people including a good number of children and female were killed as over-loaded single-decker launch 'Prince of Patuakhali' capsized on Patuakhali-Char Montaz route during a rough weather. Following a survey that identified over 3,000-kilometre waterways as 'Danger Zone' in the coastal areas of the country, the government imposed the ban for the seven months by a circular in 2000, sources said.
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