The end of a long saga of southern people’s sufferings

A long saga of sufferings and hassles of 21 southern districts has come to an end with the opening of the Padma Multipurpose Bridge on 25 June.

Before the opening of the bridge, commuters of the southern part of the country had to face untold sufferings as there was no direct land route between Dhaka and southern districts.

Crowds are trying to get inside the ferry after long waiting hours. TBS File Photo

Crossing the river by ferry causes people to suffer all through the year. Dense fog in winter, strong river current often caused postponement of ferry ghats at Mawa, Paturia Daulatdia, leaving people in utmost hassles and endless waiting.

Especially during festivals like Eid and holidays, the traffic congestion waiting for ferry took hours, even days under the open sky. The road's inaccessibility through the mighty Padma hit emergency patients hard, with many reports of patients dying while waiting for a ferry to cross the river.

Commuters are seen jumping to ferry at Mawa Ghat risking their life. Photo collected from Facebook.

But the bridge ends all the sufferings as people of southwestern region now can drive straight to Dhaka by road. The long nightmarish wait for the ferryboat is over. They will now cross the river in just six minutes by the Padma Bridge.

From now on, the tale of immense sufferings of people at the ferry ghat will end forever.

File photo. Holidaymakers throng at the Paturia-Daulatdia terminal on Monday morning where only a few ferries were allowed to cross the Padma River to carry the ambulances on a limited scale. Photo: TBS

It was a historical moment for the southern people as well as the whole countrymen when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina opens the 6.15km landmark rail-road bridge to traffic Saturday.

It took 51 years since independence for the people of the southern region to have a direct road link with capital Dhaka and key port Chattogram. After six months, they can expect to cross the bridge by train too, when the rail link project ends in December this year.

Holidaymakers were seen waiting at the Paturia-Daulatdia terminal to cross the Padma River . Photo: TBS

The bridge will expedite transporting goods to and from Mongla port in Bagerhat and Bhomra land port in Satkhira, facilitating export trades and easing supplies of essentials in the domestic market. Around 160 tonnes of shrimp are shipped to Dhaka every day from the Khulna region, while jute worth about Tk500 crore are exported through Mongla Port annually.

While some buses and private cars are lucky enough to only wait 2-3 hours, some lorries and trucks have been waiting for days. Photo: TBS

The bridge carries a gas pipeline which will pave the way for expanding the gas network to the south-western districts. Pipeline gas supply will encourage industrialisation and generate employment in the relatively underdeveloped region.