United News of Bangladesh

On the tranquil banks of a sleepy branch of the mighty Padma River, dreams once stirred with the first blows of construction.  A 580-metre bridge, envisioned to link Faridpur’s bustling district town with the isolated char areas beyond the waters, now stands as a monument to delay, disillusionment and desertion. Seven long years have drifted by like the currents below, yet the bridge remains unfinished—its promise trapped in rusting rods and skeletal girders.  For the thousands who live in the char lands, life is an endless wait, punctuated by engine boat rides and the hope that each passing season might bring a new dawn. The bridge, part of the "Polli Soroke Guruttopurno Setu Nirman" initiative, stretches across the Bhajandanga Ghat–Gendumolla Haat GC Road in Sadar upazila.  Originally designed as a 550-metre PSC girder bridge and later extended to 580 metres, its grand beginning in 2018 came with an ambitious budget of around Tk 76 crore and lofty aspirations of transforming rural isolation into connected prosperity. But dreams are delicate things. By 2020, the bridge was dealt a grievous blow. The original contractor, Rafia Construction, vanished from the site, leaving only the echo of halted machinery. Its proprietors, Rubel and Barkat, became entangled in a sprawling Tk 2,000 crore money laundering scandal, their flight from justice mirrored by the project’s stalling into silence. It was not until 2022 that life returned to the construction site with the arrival of Faridpur Jannat Construction Ltd and The Nirmito.  Yet the rekindling has been feeble. Now, after six years of broken schedules and shifting targets, only 55 to 60 per cent of the work is reportedly complete, with fresh estimates placing full completion a distant two years away. Eid exodus turns ordeal on crater-ridden Faridpur Highway Local hearts have grown weary. “We’ve been watching this bridge construction drag on for years,” sighed Hafiz Matubbar, a resident who lives on the river’s edge.  “The only way across is by engine boats or trawlers, which is a daily hardship for around 50,000 people,” he said.  His voice, heavy with frustration, finds echoes in the words of Idris Bepari, Abzal Hossain, and Miraj Hossain, who speak of the anguish faced by students missing school, patients stranded far from medical care, and farmers cut off from markets."There is no permanent road here,” said Murad Hossain from Digreechar union, adding, “During the monsoon, when currents grow fierce, even the trawlers stop. We’re left marooned.” The bridge, meant to be a symbol of upliftment, now casts a shadow. “It’s dangerous to travel, especially in bad weather,” Murad added.  “Reaching a hospital or sending kids to school becomes nearly impossible. We had dreams when the bridge work started. Now, it feels like a nightmare," he said.  Fingers point in every direction—from negligent contractors to lethargic oversight. Locals speak in hushed tones of corruption, red tape, and shifting contractors as reasons behind the exasperating crawl of progress.  Their patience, once robust, has thinned with each extension and unfulfilled deadline. “Finishing this bridge is not just important, it’s urgent,” declared Mehedi Hasan Mintu, chairman of the local Union Parishad. “Our farmers are suffering huge losses, unable to transport their produce to the town markets. The economy of this area is bleeding.”

Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, Bangladesh's state minister for shipping, on Wednesday (January 17, 2024) said the ferry, Rajanigandha, capsized in the Padma River near Paturia ferry terminal in Manikganj after being hit by a bulkhead.“Primarily, it is known that the ferry was anchored near the ghat and a bulkhead hit the ferry,” he said while talking to reporters at the secretariat. The actual reason could be known after getting probe report, he said. Ferry driver missing after it capsizes with vehicles in Padma River“Rajanigandha ferry is a utility ferry and there were a small number of vehicles on it. When vehicles started to board it ,the authorities usually maintain balance and whether the authorities followed it properly at that time it will be known later,” said the minister.The ferry authorities said they anchored the ferry due to dense fog and when they started their journey around 1:30 am from Daulatpur ghat the sky was clear but when they reached near Paturia they experienced poor visibility due to dense fog, he said.A secretary-level officer is on the spot and he will take necessary steps, said Khalid.Mentioning that Bulkhead is needed for transporting goods, the minister said, “The ministry is looking how to modernize those and register those and the Department of Shipping (DoS) is working on it.” Daulatdia-Paturia ferry services resume after 7 hoursA man identified as Humayun Kabir, 39, second master of the ferry, went missing as the ferry on the Daulatdia-Paturia route with nine trucks capsized near No 5 ghat in Paturia of Manikganj district earlier today.

In a harrowing incident early this morning, a ferry operating on the Daulatdia-Paturia route tragically capsized near No 5 ghat in the Manikganj district of Bangladesh. The mishap, involving the ferry ‘Rajanigandha’ with nine trucks onboard, led to the disappearance of one individual, identified as Humayun Kabir, the 39-year-old second driver of the vessel. Read: Weather Update: Will it rain in Dhaka?  Anwarul Islam, warehouse inspector of Fire Service and Civil Defence, reported that the ferry sank around 8:16 am. Following the incident, local fire service divers were promptly dispatched to the site and succeeded in rescuing six individuals from the perilous waters. The exact cause of the ferry’s capsizing remains unclear at this early stage of the investigation. Read: Dhaka Elevated Expressway to be completed in 2024, says Obaidul Quader  In a display of coordinated effort, the Bangladesh Navy has also joined the ongoing rescue operations, as confirmed by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR). The search continues for the missing ferry driver, Humayun Kabir, with rescue teams working tirelessly against the clock in the hope of a safe recovery. 

Bodies of two children who went missing while taking bath in the Padma river in Kushtia have been recovered. The deceased were identified as Rifat Mandal, 8, son of Rifat Mandal and Morsalin, 6, son of Mojibor Ragman in Daulatpur upazila. The children went missing on Wednesday morning and after searching the whole day locals recovered their bodies from the river around 11 pm, said Mojibur Rahman, Officer-in-Charge of Daulatpur police station. Read more: Missing man’s body recovered a day after wife drowned in Padma river The bodies were handed over to their families, he said.

Firefighters today recovered the body of a man, missing from Padma river in Rajshahi — a day after his wife drowned in the river. The deceased was identified as Salauddin Quader Rupan, 38, a banker from Srimantapur area under Godagari upazila. The body was recovered around 11:30 am near the spot where his wife Manjuri Tanvir Nishi, 32, drowned on Friday, said Nabir Uddin, station officer of Godagari Fire Service Station. Kamrul Islam, Officer-in-Charge of Godagari police station, said the body will be handed over to the family after completing legal procedures. Read more: Wife drowns, husband goes missing while bathing in Padma A Rajshahi fire service diving team was conducting a search operation from Friday noon and suspended it around 7 pm due to darkness. They resumed it again on Saturday morning and recovered Rupan’s body. Rupan, posted in Kishoreganj, his family members and some 15 others were having a picnic on the bank of the river on Friday. Read more: 2 killed after boat capsizes in Padma off Rajshahi city After traveling by boat, he and his family members were bathing in the river at noon. Suddenly a heavy tide came along and four members of the family, including Nishi, went missing at first. Though others could rescue Nishi and her two children, Rupan went missing. Nishi breathed her last on the way to hospital.

A 32-year-old housewife drowned while bathing with her husband and two offspring in the Padma River in Godagari municipality of Rajshahi on Friday morning. Her husband Salauddin Quader, 38, also went missing. The deceased—Manjuri Tanvir Nishi and her missing husband Salauddin were residents of Shrimantapur area under the Godagari upazila. Salauddin, a private banker posted in Kishoreganj, his family members and some 15 others had a picnic on the bank of the river on Friday, said Namiruddin, deputy officer of Godagari Fire Service and Civil Defense station. After travelling by boat, he and his family members were bathing in the river at noon. Suddenly a heavy tide came along and all four members including Manjuri went missing at first.  Read more: Two kids drown in Chandpur Though others could rescue Nishi and her two offspring, Salauddin remained missing after the tide hit. Manjuri breathed her last on the way to hospital, the fire service officer said. A team of divers was conducting a search operation in the river but till the filing of this report at 9pm, there was still no sign of him, he added. Read more: Two children drown in Ctg pond 

After a delay of more than two years, finally the Aminbazar-Gopalganj 400 KV power transmission line came into operation crossing the Padma River. “The line was commissioned successfully at 1:40 pm on December 15 (Thursday) from Gopalganj grid substation with 400 KV voltage”, the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) said in a Facebook post. However, PGCB managing director Golam Kibria said that although the line was commissioned, electricity flow will not be given through this line. "We've planned to flow electricity from next Saturday on test basis and then step by step it will be fully commissioned by gradually synchronising with all the systems”, he told UNB. Read more: If BERC delays decision on retail power hike proposals, govt to decide: Nasrul Hamid PGCB officials said that the full commissioning of the newly constructed line will facilitate electricity transmission from the two large power plants—1320 MW Payra and 1320 MW Rampal power plants—in the country’s southern region to Dhaka city. Of these, the Payra power plant having two units, each 620 MW capacity, set up in joint venture with Chinese company, have already been commissioned. The first unit (620 MW capacity) of Rampal power plant is also being built in joint venture with an Indian company and it is expected to be commercially commissioned in March next year. “If the electricity from these two plants can come to the capital city, it will play an important role to improve the power supply situation”, said a top official of the Power Division. Read more: Mitsubishi Power to continue support Bangladesh power industry amid growing energy need The government had undertaken the implementation of the Aminbazar-Gopalganj transmission line in 2016. But due to construction of the Padma Bridge, works of tower installation in Padma River remained suspended until completion of the bridge construction. As a result, the project experienced a huge delay to complete. The PGCB in the Facebook post mentioned that the newly constructed Aminbazar-Gopalganj 400 KV power transmission line has been successfully commissioned with charging power by the PGCB. The length of the line from Gopalganj to Aminbazar grid substation is 82.5 km. Of which there is a 7.5 km river crossing on Padma River. The Gopalganj to Aminbazar line has a total of 226 towers. A total of 11 tall towers have been constructed in the Padma River and also on both sides for facilitating the river crossing. As the line has been successfully charged at 400 KV voltage, soon after all technical preparations and evaluations, power transmission (load flow) will be started on this line. With the commissioning of the newly constructed line, the previously constructed Payra-Gopalganj 400 KV line and Gopalganj-Mongla 400 KV line have been connected to the Aminbazar grid substation on the outskirts of Dhaka. This has made the connection to the national grid stronger and more reliable with the greater Khulna and Barishal regions, the PGCB mentioned.

Manikganj's Paturia ghat has been witnessing a huge rush since Friday morning, as thousands from Dhaka head home to celebrate Eid-ul-Azha with their near and dear ones.   However, the number of people and vehicles at the ferry ghat is less than previous years, with several people from the southern and southwestern regions preferring buses plying via Padma Bridge over water vessels.   On the other hand, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) is monitoring the traffic in the ghat area. A total of 20 ferries are currently operating of 21 vessels.   Read: Chaos at Paturia ghat as 300 cars wait to cross Padma   According to Shah Khaled Newaz, deputy general manager of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC), Aricha region, the pressure of passengers has increased since morning.   Around 6,000-7,000 vehicles, including 3,600 bikes, have crossed the Padma river through Paturia ghat in the past 24 hours.   Manikganj superintendent of police Golam Azad Khan said that additional police force has been deployed in the ghat area to maintain law and order. "CCTV cameras have also been set up."

Ferry services on Shimulia-Majhirkandi route resumed Monday morning after seven hours of suspension due to strong current in the Padma River. The ferry service resumed after 5 am with operation of five ferries, said Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) officials. BIWTC announced the suspension of the ferry services around 10:15 pm on Sunday to avert possible accidents. Also read:Two ferries collide in Padma; 1 killed Vehicles and passengers stranded at night are now crossing the river through ferries Kunjalta, Begum Rokeya, Begum Sufia Kamal, Cumilla, Faridpur. Meanwhile, a man was killed and another went missing as two ferries collided head-on in the Padma River near Jajira in Shariatpur district on the Shimulia-Majhirkandi route in the early hours on Sunday. Ten people on both the ferries- Begum Rokeya and Begum Sufia Kamal -sustained injuries. The BIWTC formed a four-member probe committee in this regard. Besides, the junior masters of the two ferries have been suspended.

The major rivers in Faridpur including the Padma River have started to swell, inundating low-lying char areas and causing worry to local farmers. Following the authority’s instruction farmers of the low land areas of Faridpur Sadar have started harvesting half-ripe nuts, paddy and sesame to reduce losses. Also read: Sylhet: Flood-hit city dwellers suffer crisis of gas, power and safe drinking water Ramzan Ali Bhuiyan, a farmer from Paldangi area in sadar upazila, said that he cultivated  nuts on eight bighas of land. But due to the sudden rise in water level of the  Padma River nuts of all lands have been submerged, causing huge losses, he said. Sufia Begum, wife of another farmer, said, “I cultivated nuts on one acre of land spending Tk 30,000 and selling these nuts I planned to run my family. But the sudden flood forced me to harvest the unripe nuts which will have no use other than fodder.” Dikrir Char union parishad chairman Mehedi Hasan said onrush of water from the upstream flooded the char areas in sadar upazila and nut cultivators of the union are the worst sufferers as nut is the major source of their income of the char residents.