2024-08-18 10:28:44
The fall of the Sheikh Hasina government in the anti-discrimination quota movement has affected the ancient and traditional Sadarghat built on the banks of the Buriganga river. Professionals associated with the launch, including the owners, have suffered greatly due to the decrease in passengers.
On Thursday (August 15) afternoon, they went to Sadarghat and talked to the launch authorities and those in charge and told about their suffering. However, many people hope that if the situation in the country is normal, they will be able to recover this loss very quickly.
On the surface, it was seen that big launches are waiting for passengers to go to different parts of the country. Employees are waiting for the passengers according to the time. But there are no passengers at the wharf. As it is a Thursday, the passenger traffic is a little more today than the last few days. But it is very less compared to normal time. As there is no pressure from the passengers, the officials and employees related to the launch are seen spending a lot of idle time.
If you want to know, the supervisor of the MV launch from Dhaka to Bhola said. Jasim said, in this situation of the country, our launch movement was stopped. Although the launch started on August 9, now no one is traveling without necessity. The launch will leave at 8 pm today. It is almost evening, but tickets are still not sold. To whom will we talk about these problems? It is becoming difficult for us to send money to the family.
A person named Mizan, who is in charge of a launch called Pubali-6, said, “We can understand how the passengers will be in the launch.” Passengers are not increasing since few days. Many are going from Dhaka but the launches have to return after two days due to lack of passengers.
He said, now people have work in the area, they are living in the area by working in the urge of life. Again, after the student quota movement, very few people are coming to Dhaka in such a state of the country. Earlier, I used to leave Dhaka with 250-300 passengers, and I used to come back with the same amount. But now we have to travel with 100-120 passengers.
Faraji, the head of the Karnaphuli-4 launch authority from Dhaka to Ilishaghat, said that the number of passengers at Sadarghat has decreased after the launch of the Padma Bridge, but this river port is very important for traveling to many districts in our southern region. If the situation in the country was good, we used to take 300 passengers, now we have to take 150. Due to less number of passengers, the fare fixed by the government has to be taken by Tk 300 instead of Tk 547. But the price of oil can’t be adjusted in any way.
In this regard, Jagannath University student Omar Farooq Jilon, a student of Noakhali, said that a new government has been formed in the country. Taking lease from Sadarghat Govt. A lot of money is taken from the passengers, everyone would be better off if the current interim government looks at the waterways and stops the extortion. I hope a fare chart from this government.
A man in charge of the counter at a launch said, “We get a commission on ticket sales on a day-by-day basis.” Being closed for a long time and now with fewer passengers, running the household has become a burden. Still, we have to adapt to the environment.
Meanwhile, passenger movement in the nearby 3-4 hour long distance launches has been normal since August 9. Passengers have come and gone for necessities in the near distance.
Badsha, the supervisor of the short-distance Eagle launch to Chandpur, said that the continuity of our passenger movement has not decreased. Since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government, things have been going well. Due to the short distance, people are traveling fearlessly. Moreover, many businessmen brought hilsa fish from Chandpur to Dhaka city in our launch.
In order to know about the whole issue, I talked to Mohammad Ismail Hossain, Joint Director in charge of Maritime Safety and Traffic Management of Sadarghat of BIWTA. He told RisingBD that there was no chaos in Sadarghat in this situation of the country. So far we have not had any problems. We always monitor for the good of the people of the country, so that no evil forces can take advantage. In case of trouble, everyone is told to hand over to the army. Because the nuisance of Tokais is increasing day by day in Sadarghat.
When asked about the suffering of the launch employees, he said that people are moving a little less in this situation. Yesterday 59 launches left Dhaka and 60 launches arrived in Dhaka. But before this the launch used to travel around 100. Many launches are going after two days. However, the country is being reconstructed, the launch movement will start again as before. I think no one should suffer anymore.