Sandwip channel: A scary sail for the islanders

Three siblings – Anika, 12, Adifa, 6, and Aliva, 7 – were returning to Sandwip from Chattogram city with their mother by a speedboat after bidding farewell to their Oman expatriate father on 20 April morning.

The illegally operated speedboat sank in the Sandwip channel, leaving four children, including the three sisters, dead, which startled the island town.

However, this is not the first time such an accident has taken place in the unregulated waterway between Sitakunda's Kumira and Sandwip's Guptachhara terminals. Earlier in 2017, some 18 passengers were killed in another boat capsize in this channel.

Another minor girl was killed after getting hit by a motorcycle as she was getting into a jetty at Kumira ghat on 23 April.

The residents of Sandwip have staged demonstrations to protest against the sufferings and unsafe transportation system on this water route.

Photo: TBS

Sandwip is home to nearly four lakh people and the Sandwip channel is the only way for the islanders to maintain contact with the mainland.

The annual income from the Kumira-Guptachhara water route is around Tk3.5 crore.

However, two government agencies are in a dispute over the management of this waterway and local people are paying the price of this statemate.

Inaction of the authorities

A week before the 20 April tragedy, the Chattorgam district administration sent a letter to the Sandwip Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Samrat Khisha to stop the speedboats from operating illegally in the channel. But the UNO did not comply with the directive.

In the afternoon on that day, UNO Samrat Khisha was seen walking around with SM Anwar Hossain, the lessee of Guptachhara Ghat, who is in charge of the speedboat operation.

Pictures of the UNO hanging around with the lessee, who was supposed to have been arrested over the accident, went viral on social media.

Photo: TBS

The lessee, Anwar Hossain, who was a mere boatman some ten years ago, is now reportedly controlling a lot of Sandwip's politics and administration with money.

Anwar, also a former forest and environment secretary of the upazila unit of the Awami League, is currently chairman of Magdhara union of Sandwip.

However, when asked, Anwar Hossain denied the allegation.

Sandwip UNO Samrat Khisha told TBS, "A committee has been formed to investigate the incident. I will take action after receiving the report. After the incident, I had Anwar with me as the chairman, not as an accused."

The Business Standard also tried to contact Mominur Rahman, deputy commissioner (DC) of Chattogram, on his cell phone to discuss the matter but he was unreachable.

Photo: TBS.

Dispute between BIWTA and Chattogram Zila Parishad

On paper, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) is the legal authority of the Kumira-Guptachhara terminals.

But on 7 November 2013, BIWTA leased the terminals to a person named Abul Kashem. However, a day before Kashem got to start his work, the Chattogram Zila Parishad gave the lease to Awami League leader Anwar Hossain.

The sufferings of the island's residents began at that point. Due to the dispute between the two government bodies (BIWTA and Zila Parishad) over the ghats' management, safe and time-befitting transportation systems have not been developed on this route in the last nine years.

Although the Zila Parishad has been operating the ghats since 2014, there have been no safe vessels on this route. Meanwhile, the Zila Parishad is collecting an average revenue of around Tk1 lakh per day by leasing out the ghats at high rates.

At the same time, BIWTA has not been coming forward to resolve the issue despite reports of immense suffering of the passengers. But BIWTA has been collecting Tk40 lakh a year from the Zila Parishad against the use of its terminals and gangways.

The BIWTA, through mediation by the local government division, reached an agreement with the Zilla Parishad in 2013 and handed over responsibility of the ghats for the subsequent six years. The agreement expired on 1 December 2020.

Photo: TBS

But the Zilla Parishad is not handing the ghats' responsibility back to BIWTA and continues to conduct water transport operations illegally.

Abu Raihan Tanin, a local resident, told TBS, "I think some dishonest BIWTA officials are also involved in this issue. Nevertheless, I want BIWTA to operate vessels at Kumira-Guptachhara ghats because it has ships."

"Besides, BIWTA has skills in ghat management and accident prevention. The Sandwip water route will be relatively safe if illegal boats are stopped and at least two sea trucks are launched," he added.

BIWTA Chairman Commodore Golam Sadeq told The Business Standard, "On 1 March 2020, the government declared the area from Muhuri Project on the Chattogram coast to Rashmoni ghat as a river port. BIWTA has been appointed to operate this port."

Photo: TBS

"As the agreement with the Zilla Parishad has expired, a mega project has also been taken up for the development of this waterway. But if BIWTA does not get back the ownership through legal process, ensuring safe and modern waterways will remain elusive," the chairman added.

Sabbir Iqbal, chief executive officer of the Chattogram Zila Parishad, said, "We have a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with BIWTA on the ownership of the ghats. We also have a lot of investments here.

"The shipping ministry will now decide who will run operations here," Sabbir added.

Mahfuzur Rahaman Mita, lawmaker from Sandwip (Chittagong-3), told The Business Standard: "The Ministry of Shipping has already formed a committee to look into the matter. I hope the problem will be resolved soon."