Due to freshly deposited silt in the Jamuna river, ferry services along the Balashi Ghat terminal in Gaibandha and Bahadurabad Ghat terminal in Jamalpur are almost at a halt.

Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) carried out dredging in the river last year to increase navigability.

But during monsoon this year sediments again found their ways into the river bringing down the water level at many points.

As a result, a plan of BIWTA to create road link between northern districts and Dhaka by placing barges (large, flat-bottomed boat for carrying heavy freight on rivers, canals) is now in limbo.

The pontoon at Balashi Ghat is currently lying inactive. The terminal is mostly used to carry passengers and goods to the capital from northern districts.

Communication via different routes of the Jamuna river gets largely disrupted every winter as water level goes down drastically.

At some points, it becomes knee-deep making it impossible for vessels to move. Vessels run into shoals and get stuck, according to local boatmen.

Everyday hundreds of people travel to different destinations by engine boats from Balashi Ghat.

The terminal connects Gaibandha town to Sundarganj, Fulchhari and Sagata upazilas of the district. It also connects the town with Chilmari, Raumari and Rajibpur upazilas of Kurigram, Sariakandi and Sonatola of Bogura, and Dewanganj and Islampur of Jamalpur, according to Gaibandha District Council.

Navigability on the routes are almost lost as water flow from the upstream has gone thinner over time, said locals.

“In rainy season, it takes only one-and-a-half hour to reach Bahadurabad Ghat but in dry season it takes three to four hours,” said Abdul Hye, a boatman of Kalasona Char in Fulchhari.

“We thought that navigability would be restored by excavation, but flood again brought silt from upstream and the situation went back to square one,” said boatman Jamaluddin of Balashi Ghat.

“Passengers cannot reach their destinations on time in winter, as a number of shoals develop in the riverbed impeding movement of country boats,” Asaduzzaman Hashu, leaseholder of the terminal, told this paper.

Moklesur Rahman, executive engineer of Bangladesh Water Development Board, Gaibandha, said, “We need a master plan to do dredging in such a way that ferry channels remain navigable throughout the year.”

During British rule, railway authorities had launched train ferry services in the Jamuna.

Following the construction of Bangabandhu Bridge, the railway ferry services between Balashi Ghat and Bahadurabad Ghat was withdrawn in 2005.