Moynul Haque Mridha, Rajbari

General passengers and staff are constantly suffering in the open pontoons of Daulatdia in Rajbari and Paturia and Aricha launch ghats in Manikganj under the Aricha region of BIWTA.

The matter has been reported to the concerned authorities and a proposal for modernization has been sent to the Ministry of Shipping. The victims have demanded immediate effective action.

During the on-site conversation, the concerned people said that the general passengers and staff are constantly suffering in various ways in the pontoons of the three launch ghats of the Daulatdia-Paturia and Daulatdia-Aricha river routes. In the open pontoons, the general passengers and the staff working on the pontoons have to work in hostile environments during natural disasters. There is no provision for the general passengers to take shelter.

Daulatdia Ghat representative of Aricha Launch Owners Association, Mofizul Islam, said, Daulatdia launch ghat was once located inland from the main river. It was more of a harbor in nature.

Goalanda UNO Sathi Das said, "During his inspection of the Daulatdia launch ghat, he came to know about the suffering of passengers on open pontoons. We have requested the concerned authorities to take action in this regard."

Aricha Port Officer Subrata Palash Roy said that before last Eid-ul-Azha, the Honorable Secretary of the Ministry of Shipping visited Daulatdia and Paturia Ghats and inquired about the passenger services. We immediately informed him about the open pontoon of the launch ghat. Later, a written proposal was also sent from the Aricha office for the modernization of the pontoons of Daulatdia, Paturia and Aricha launch ghats.