Moynul Haque Mridha, Rajbari

There is no pressure of passengers and vehicles in Paturia of Manikganj and Daulatdia Ferighat area of Rajbari during the Eid journey but to share the joy of Eid, the pressure of people returning home at the launch ghat is increasing a little.

On Sunday (April 7) from 10 am to 12:30 pm these pictures can be seen by visiting Daulatdia Ferry and Launch Ghat.

It can be seen on the ground that Paturia of Manikganj and Daulatdia of Rajbari who came from the capital are returning home to share the joy of Eid with their families. However, the number of passengers and vehicles on the Paturia-Daulatdia waterway has decreased since the Padma Bridge was commissioned. Because of this, even though the Eid journey has started this time, the pressure of passengers and vehicles on this waterway is less than during other Eid times.

Going to Daulatdia launch ghat around 11 o'clock today, it was seen that every 15-20 minutes a launch was leaving from Paturia ghat with passengers and coming to Daulatdia end. Each launch throngs the wharf with hundreds of passengers. A team of Daulatdia Naval Police is on duty along with the district police to ensure that no untoward incident takes place at the launch and ferry wharf. But on every ferry leaving Paturia, many people are returning home in private small cars and motorcycles rather than passenger buses. However, no passengers were seen on the ferry.

At the Daulatdia launch ghat, we spoke to Jewel Ahmed, a Jessore-bound passenger who brought his family from Gazipur. He said, I deal in machine purses in Dhaka. I am going home to the village to celebrate Eid early with my family as there will be overcrowding from tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. There were no problems along the way. The highway is empty. The rest of the way can be done well.

Habibur Rahman, the driver of Sakura Transport from Dhaka Gabtali said,
Every year before Eid one has to sit for hours to cross the ferry at Paturia Ghat. Now I can board the ferry directly after coming to the ghat. But till now there is no pressure on passengers No problem on the highway either.

Meanwhile, Superintendent of Police Mohammad Azizul Islam of Naval Police Headquarters visited Daulatdia Ferry and Launch Ghat around 11:30 AM. While inspecting the ghat, he said, we are working for the safe passage of passengers, additional passengers in the launch, life jackets in the launches for the safe passage of the passengers, the fitness of the launch is being checked. Also awareness messages are being given to increase the awareness of passengers.

We have been told clearly by the Naval Police Headquarters that there should be no inconvenience during the Eid journey. For the safety of passengers, our Naval Police members are constantly monitoring the wharf.

BIWTC Daulatdia Office Manager (Commercial) Md. Salah Uddin said that 14 ferries are currently plying on the Daulatdia-Paturia waterway to ferry passengers and vehicles during this year's Eid trip.

Besides, three ghats are operational. However, currently there is no pressure for people to return home on the Eid journey in Daulatdia. We have completed all kinds of preparations to make the Eid journey of the people coming to the Ghat hassle-free.