The unstoppable impact that is coming

People on both sides of the mighty Padma are excited about the new opportunities that will come to the 21 southern districts with the inauguration of the much-awaited Padma Bridge on June 25.

However, with that, trouble will also come for the people working on the river transport vessels, local road transports and small and large businesses on both sides of the river.

Thousands of people cross the river daily through the Shimulia-Kathalbari route and several other routes from Mawa using the ferries, trawlers, launches, speedboats or small boats — which have created jobs for numerous vessel workers over the years.

Based on that traffic, hundreds of businesses have grown on both sides over the past few decades, employing workers who migrated from multiple southern districts and settled mostly in Shimulia and Mawa of Munshiganj and Majhir Ghat and Kathalbari of Shariatpur.

Now, many expressed their fear of losing their jobs and businesses once Padma Bridge opens and considerably diminishes that waterway traffic their livelihoods depend on.

While talking to The Business Post, many workers and traders said they are forcing themselves to consider moving back to their hometowns further down south once/if they lose their paycheques or after selling their businesses, while many others are considering migrating to the capital Dhaka with the hope to find better opportunities.

The dilemma created by the looming job insecurity has left them frustrated. Speed boat drivers, retail fuel sellers, owners and workers of launches, trawlers, hotels and restaurants, hawkers, small traders and local transport workers are now hoping, and in some ways demanding, that the government will provide job support or rehabilitation facilities.

However, Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project Director Md Shafiqul Islam told The Business Post that there is no general rehabilitation plan.

“Only the people whose land the government had to acquire for the project would be compensated and rehabilitated. That process is still underway,” he added.

Some owners have already started looking for customers to sell their entities established a long time ago on either side of the river. Some owners of river vessels and small road transports are also doing the same.

What else can I do?

Fifty-five-year-old Abdul Jabbar migrated to Shimulia from Barishal’s Mehendiganj upazila with his family around 25 years ago.

Since then, he has been working as a speed boat driver on the Padma River. The four members of his family live in a tiny house, with a monthly Tk 3,000 rent, in Shimulia.

About six months ago, he took loans from an NGO and relatives and bought a reconditioned speed boat at Tk 2,50,000.

“I moved here after losing my ancestral home at Mehendiganj to the Meghna River. If I become displaced and have to move again, I will have to sell the boat,” he told The Business Post.

“I know how to drive a speed boat. I have never done any other work. What else can I do if I lose this job?” said a worried Jabbar.

Between Mawa and Kathalbari ghats, at least 300 drivers currently operate some 224 speed boats from both sides of the river, according to owners and workers.

A speed boat generally makes three to four trips daily and eight to 10 trips during the weekends. During the Eid holidays, along with other vessels, these speed boats also earn a good amount of money.

But under current circumstances, the owners who are thinking about selling their speed boats cannot even find buyers.

Fazlu Mia is another speed boat driver who lives with his family near the Padma Water Treatment Plant in the Jashaldia area of Munshiganj’s Louhajanj upazila.

“I worked as a Padma speed boat driver for 19 years. Now I’m worried about surviving with my family if I lose my job,” said the middle-aged man.

“I may end up migrating to Dhaka if I don’t get any other job here,” he added.

Another speed boat driver, Lutfor Rahman said he has decided to work as a day labourer at the crop fields if he loses his job.

Hope for the best

Apart from the speed boat drivers, the workers of vessels, transports and businesses — both permanent and temporary — that rely on the waterway traffic on either side of the river are also feeling the threat of losing their livelihoods and displacement.

These include hundreds of trawlers, small launches, hundreds of human hauliers and three-wheelers — both auto and manual, around 70 hotels and restaurants, over 100 tea stalls, around 200 fruit shops, at least 30 retail fuel sellers, 50 confectionaries, seven engine workshops, three boat factories and over 500 hawkers.

Many of the people who own these and their workers may lose their businesses and jobs if the waterway traffic drops significantly after the bridge opens.

Jahangir Alam, the proprietor of Al Jaber Restaurant at Kathalbari, told The Business Post that his family depends on the earnings of this business. “I hope business will be okay even after Padma Bridge opens.

“But we don’t know what we will do if we lose the restaurant.”

Md Ilias has been a driver of a ‘leguna,’ a customised human haulier, for many years. His local vehicle operates between Kathalbari ferry ghat and Atroshi, Sadarpur and Chandrapara areas.

“I don’t know if we will find enough passengers to operate on these routes once the bridge opens,” he said sceptically.

“All we can do is hope for the best and pray that the government will help,” he added.