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| TREAD WITH CARE: A jetty on the Howrah side of the Hooghly. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya |
Hirendralal Basu, a resident of Baishnabpara, in central Howrah, gets tense every time he crosses the gangway at the Ramakrishnapur ferry ghat. He sweats profusely, mutters under his breath and takes steps with extreme caution, as if the gangway would cave in any moment.
He is not alone; sharing his ordeal daily are at least 4,000 people. The gangway is in such a precarious state that, as a commuter puts it, ?even a rat would not dare cross it?.
Residents of central Howrah have repeatedly complained about the jetty, but to no avail.
A large number of people from Howrah avail of the ferry service from Ramakrishnapur ghat as it takes only Rs 3.50 and seven minutes to reach Chandpal ghat (in Calcutta) from there.
A senior official of Hooghly Nadi Jalpath Paribahan Samanway Samity said: ?We have three ferry services from Chandpal ? to Ramakrishnapur, Shibpur and Howrah. But most of our passengers avail of the Chandpal-Ramakrishnapur service.?
Officials of the Samity, which is responsible for the upkeep of all jetties under its six ferry services between Howrah and Calcutta, admit that the Ramakrishnapur gangway is the busiest.
It also becomes evident from the footfall recorded in the service register of the Chandpal unit. On a weekday, around 7,000 people avail of the two services controlled by the Chandpal unit, to Shibpur and Ramakrishnapur. Of them, more than 4,000 avail of the Ramakrishnapur service.
Passengers fear the gangway, weak enough for the load it has to bear, is most vulnerable during office hours ? 9 am to noon and 4 pm to 7 pm. ?We run more launches during the office hours, when the normal interval of 15 minutes is reduced to 10,? a Samity spokesperson said.
A survey of the gangway bears out the passengers? fear and their allegation of negligence against the Samity. The nearly-25-m-long jetty is made of wooden planks. Several have come loose, forming yawning gaps between them. At some points, the planks have caved in dangerously.
?I have been using the gangway for nearly 15 years and have never seen any maintenance work on it ,? said Hirendralal Basu, who works at Calcutta High Court.
Conceding that the gangway is in poor shape, Samity chairman Lagan Deo Singh said: ?We will soon send an inspection team to assess the damage. After that, repairs will begin.?
Asked what would happen if an accident occurs before repair works get underway, Singh, also MLA of North Howrah, said: ?No major accidents have ever occurred on the gangway.?