Truck drivers have to count Tk 400 or more in addition to the official fees to get ferry ticket for each truck at Paturia terminal due to alleged malpractice by a section of staff of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC), traffic police and brokers.
They create artificial traffic to compel the truck drivers to give bribe to have access to a ferry by breaking the serial, alleged the affected truck drivers.
During a visit to Paturia ferry terminals on Wednesday afternoon, this correspondent talked to several truck drivers, officials and employees of BIWTC and traffic police.
"I came to Paturia ghat with an iron rod-laden truck bound for Kushtia from Dhaka at around 6:00am on Wednesday. I could manage a ferry ticket at around 6:00pm that day after giving a broker Tk 400 in addition to the official fee," said truck driver Abdur Razzak.
"The official fee of ferry service for a truck is Tk 960 but brokers having link with BIWTC officials and employees take Tk 1300-1500 to let a truck driver go earlier by breaking the serial," he said.
Md Milon, who came to Paturia ghat on Tuesday afternoon from Sylhet for Jhenidah, said, "I failed to buy the ticket from the BIWTC counter with the government fixed rate of Tk 960 even after waiting one day. Then I had to give additional Tk 400 to a broker to manage a ticket on Wednesday evening. Earlier on more than one occasion, I waited three or four days to get the ticket at government rate," he said.
Several other truck drivers including Nazrul Islam and Sattar Mia of Jhenidah have similar tales to tell.
When contacted, Paturia police out post in-charge Md Mahbub Alam said, "I joined here a month ago. I have received allegations of bribe taking from the truck drivers. I will inform high officials of the matter soon."
Ashraf Ullah Khan, BIWTC manager (Commerce) at Aricha, however, denied the allegations of violating serials and taking bribes by their officials and employees with the help of brokers and traffic police.
"We are trying our best to maintain serials of the waiting trucks," he said.
Thousands of long route vehicles including passenger buses and goods-laden trucks daily use Paturia-Daulatdia ferry route connecting the south-western districts with the capital.
Source : The Daily Star
