Baghabari-mohanganj
BIWTA fails to finish dredging in a month
Our Correspondent, Bogra
The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) failed to complete dredging of the 20km long channel from Baghabari river port to Mohanganj in a month, which was scheduled to be completed within 15 days.This correspondent, during a visit to the Nakalia dredging point on Wednesday, found that the workers were dumping the dredged up silt in the same river, which was bringing it back to the main channel again with the flow of the current. The dredging started on January 3 to increase the depth of the channel from one metre to three metres at five points and to increase its width to 37 metres, and was scheduled to be completed by January 18, said Joint Director of the Marine Department Emdadul Haque. The BIWTA authorities said the dredging process is being disrupted at different points from Baghabari river port to Pechakhola due to increasing speed of current at the confluence of the Hura Shagar and Jamuna rivers and decreasing current in the Padma. The authorities claimed that the dredgers are capable of dredging against a maximum speed of current of two nautical miles but the speed is four nautical miles at different points in the channel. The authorities also said different points of the 10 kilometre long waterway from Mohanganj to Charsafulla have already lost navigability for heavy currents during the tides and sharp decline of the water level during the ebbs in addition to some other factors. No large cargo vessel will be able to come to the Baghabari river port if several points on the route is not dredged immediately and the Baghabari Milk Vita Company will suffer the most in that case, they said adding that silt should be removed from at least 1500 metres of the route. They also said the situation may worsen during the period between the middle of this month and April, as the water level will start to fall down making it impossible even for small vessels to ply the route, which will leave almost two thousand workers unemployed at the Baghabari port alone. A resident of Nakalia area alleged that the dredging work was being carried out only for three hours at a stretch and with many irregularities. The workers at the sites however denied the allegation and said they have been working eight hours a day for the last one-month.
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