Ferry services resume on the Aricha-Kazirhat route after 38 hours

Ferry services on the Aricha-Kazirhat route resumed on Sunday after 38 hours of suspension.

The ferry services on the Aricha-Kazirhat route remained suspended from 10 pm on Friday due to poor navigability, leaving 300 goods-laden vehicles stranded on the river.

Nasir Mohammad Chowdhury, Deputy General Manager of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC), Aricha office, said a dredging unit of BIWTA conducted dredging and resumed the operation of the ferry services around 11am on Sunday.

Osman Goni, engineer of BIWTA dredging unit, said the government has set a target to remove 38 lakh cubic meters of soil on Aricha-Kazirhat and Paturia-Daulatdia ferry routes and the navigability work of 240 feet basing and ten feet deep channel is going on.

Several ferries were stuck on hidden shoals for the past several days due to the poor navigability in the Padma River, forcing the authorities to halt ferry services multiple times.