Dhaka: The Padma River has submerged the approach road to the Paturia launch terminal in Manikganj, causing severe inconvenience to passengers travelling to and from the country’s southwestern region. The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) has started relocating the terminal’s pontoon to a higher location as an emergency measure.

According to United News of Bangladesh, Paturia Launch Terminal Supervisor Panna Lal reported that the river water began rising in the terminal area from early Saturday. By noon, the water level had increased enough to submerge the approach road leading to the pontoon, making it difficult for passengers to board and disembark from launches. After being informed, BIWTA initially placed sandbags on the submerged road to allow passenger movement. However, the sandbags also went underwater by the afternoon, forcing many passengers to avoid launch services and instead travel by ferry through an alternative route.

The disruption caused significant hardship for hundreds of passengers. Affected passengers mentioned that they regularly use launch services but had to switch to ferries due to the submerged terminal, resulting in longer travel times and additional expenses.

Meanwhile, BIWTA temporarily suspended launch operations on Saturday afternoon while relocating the pontoon to a higher section of the terminal. BIWTA Executive Engineer Md Robiul Islam stated that the continued rise in the Padma’s water level had caused temporary inconvenience for passengers. He added that a new pontoon has already been installed at the Koroitala area, while work is underway to set up two more pontoons there.

“Once all three pontoons are installed, the launch terminal will be fully shifted to Koroitala. The relocation is expected to take another two to three days,” he said.