State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury and State Minister for Youth and Sports Md Zahid Ahsan Russel jointly inaugurated a circular speedboat service in the capital on Saturday.
The service consists of five speedboats which will ply a circular route. Initially, the speedboats will ply the Tongi/Abdullahpur-Kodda and Tongi/Abdullahpur-Ulukhul (Kaliganj) routes. Later, the Kodda-Gabtoli and Gabtoli-Sadarghat routes will also come under the service depending on demand from the commuters.
The fare for the Tongi/Abdullahpur-Kodda route has been set at Tk 150 while fare for the Tongi/Abdullahpur-Ulukhul (Kaliganj) route has been set at Tk 120. It’ll take only 25 minutes and 19 minutes respectively to reach these two destinations through the speedboats.
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Speaking as the chief guest, Khalid urged the industrialists and factory owners not to pollute the rivers surrounding Dhaka city through discharging industrial waste into them.
“Our existence will be at risk if we can’t save the rivers. Among the 10,000 river routes of the country, 7,000 routes have been made navigable under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. I think it’s a great achievement,” said Khalid.
Besides the speedboat service, the state ministers also inaugurated an eco park of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) built at the Tongi river port.
Md Mustafa Kamal, Secretary of the Ministry of Shipping, Commodore Golam Sadek, Chairman of BIWTA, Md Shafiqul Islam, Chief of River Police, Molla Nazrul Islam, Commissioner of Gazipur Metropolitan Police (GMP) and Anisur Rahman, Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Gazipur, among others, were present on the occasion.
Source: United News of Bangladesh