Hundreds of passengers gathered at the major ferry terminals of the River Padma since Saturday morning for going to Dhaka and adjacent districts after the government on Friday announced that all export-oriented industries would remain out of the purview of the ongoing Covid restrictions from August 1.
Most of these passengers on foot from the south-western districts were apparel workers, said the authorities concerned.
Amid the rush of these passengers, health regulations were largely ignored.
Their sufferings went on as after reaching the Paturia, Shimulia terminals they could not get any public transports for going to their destinations due to the current strict restrictions to prevent Covid-19 outbreak.
Officials of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation said that the risks of spread of coronavirus was increasing due to the gathering of passengers at the ferry terminals.
New Age correspondent in Manikganj reported that since Saturday morning a huge number of passengers on foot crossed the River Padma by Daulatdia-Paturia channel.
These people came from Daulatia to Paturia by crowding the ferries without maintaining social distances and then they were stuck at Paturia on the 9th day of the restrictions.
BIWTC assistant general manager (commercial) at Paturia terminal, Nasir Md Chowdhury told New Age that following the announcement of the reopening of all export-oriented industries, including the apparel factories, the apparel workers were coming back to Dhaka and adjacent districts to join work from August 1.
‘We’re operating seven to eight ferries while each of these are getting crowded with hundreds of passengers from Daulatdia since morning,’ he said.
Nasir said that after reaching Paturia the passengers remained there stranded due to absence of public transports.
‘We’re working here with high risks of infection due to this gathering. Even police cannot do anything to manage the crowd,’ he said and added that the number of vehicles was few on the route.
Many people were seen walking to their destinations.
New Age correspondent in Munshiganj reported that since morning hundreds of people and private vehicles crossed the river by Shimulia-Banglabazar channel.
Most of the passengers on foot were apparel workers.
Amid inclement weather people were seen crossing the river from Banglabazar to Shimulia by 10 ferries defying social distancing while many of them did not wear masks properly.
They were coming crossing the check posts and mobile courts in the terminal areas.
In Shimulia terminal area passengers were seen going to Dhaka and adjacent areas by small vehicles paying much escaping the check posts on highway.
Among the people most were women while some of them said that if they did not join their workplaces on time, they would lose their jobs.
BIWTC Shimulia terminal manager (marine) Ahmed Ali said that the pressure of passengers especially apparel workers from Banglabazar to Shimulia was higher on the day on almost all the ferries.
mj/
