From Our Special Correspondent
GUWAHATI: Irked at the “limited ferry services” under the Assam inland water transport department in the wake of the ban on country boats, a conscious section of daily commuters from north Guwahati have demanded additional trips across the three ghats from early morning till late evening.
At present, only a few IWT vessels are operational between Guwahati and north Guwahati, Guwahati and Madhyam Khanda and Guwahati and Rajaduar.
“Currently, only about four vessels are operating on the three routes. Worse still, from Guwahati to north Guwahati, the vessels are overloaded on week days in the absence of the country boats, with only five trips scheduled for the day,” said Ashok Dutta, a businessman who commutes daily from north Guwahati.
The state government has clamped a temporary ban on the plying of such boats in the wake of five people drowning after an “overloaded” ferry capsized near Ashwaklanta on September 5. The government has also ordered replacement of single engine boats with double engine ones as a safety measure.
“We have thousands of commuters, including office goers, students, patients, who are dependent on the IWT services from north Guwahati to the city. Yet, this fact has been neglected by the authorities for decades now, at the cost of commuters’ convenience. Now our demand in the wake of the ban on country boats is that the department must extend ferry service every half hour across the three routes from 5.30am to 9.30pm,” Dutta said.
According to an RTI filed by one of the passengers’ committee in 2012, the IWT had 12 vessels.
“Four years back, I had filed an RTI to find that there were 29 vessels. Yet, only about six are operational today between the three ghats, which is rather mysterious,” said Dhrubajyoti Das, another commuter who has to avail the service to reach his workplace in Birubari here.
Reportedly, ever since the government ferry service resumed on September 15 after the Ashwaklanta mishap prompted the temporary ban, passengers have been jostling for space on the limited ferries.
“As against a load of about 150 to 200 passengers, the ferries are carrying between 300 and 400 commuters apart from an additional number of two-wheelers. The commuters are dependent on the daily service and have no option, which again poses a risk of overloading. But that is something that the department has to look into and blaming commuters for risking their safety would just be passing the buck,” another commuter said.
A member of the Guwahati-North Guwahati Nodi Surakshya Samiti said that the committee would demand that each passenger be given a life jacket against his ticket.
“We reckon that the department is yet to store adequate and usable safety gear on the vessels. So we have decided to move the authorities in this regard,” he added.