Life crippled

The communications by road, air and waterways across the country has been facing disruption, especially at nighttime, because of dense fog for more than a week in the current spell of winter.
The foggy weather compelled the commuters to stay on their ways extra hours for the last few days. Even on Tuesday night, the ferry service at the Mawa-Keurakandi and Paturia-Dawlatdia landing stations were suspended for about eight hours like the last few days due to dense fog, causing a few kilometres of tailback on both sides of roads.
People of the country including the capital city Dhaka couldn’t see the sunlight till 11:00am yesterday, as the sky remained covered with cloudy fog. Some of the northern districts are badly affected in the current spell of cold wave. The sun is not usually seen till late hours.
In this situation, the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation [BIWTC] authorities warned all vessels on these routes to remain cautious while moving in the mid-river.
“The ferry service from about 2:00 am was suspended due to poor visibility. Five ferries remained stranded in the middle of the river Padma and six more ferries at both Paturia and Daulatdia ghats were in waiting,” Mahiuddin Rasel,” manager of BIWTC at Aricha, said.
More than 100 vehicles, including buses, remained stuck on both ends of the ferry route.
“Most of the launches on long routes like Dhaka-Barisal, Dhaka-Patuakhali, and Dhaka-Barguna were stranded in mid river for two to three hours due to the fog, said Rafiqul Islam,” Deputy Director of Sadarghat Launch Terminal.
Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority [BIWTA] officials said around 55 launches from different parts of the country usually report to Sadarghat river port in the capital by noon daily. But yesterday, only 25 reported the port till afternoon due to poor visibility.
Apart from it, the road communication was also severely disrupted due to thick fog and the authorities advised all vehicles bound for the southwestern region and eastern region from the capital to use Jamuna Bridge and Lalonshah Bridge as thick fog creating visibility problem.
The fog also disrupted two flights from Shahjalal International Airport for around an hour yesterday while many passengers got stranded at Shah Amanat International Airport in Chittagong for several hours due to heavy fog.
Meanwhile, the lowest temperature 10.2 degrees Celsius was recorded yesterday in Srimangol and it was 13.2 degrees Celsius in Dhaka.
Officials at Meteorological Department said that the situation might linger until end of the current month although there is little chance for any fresh cold wave in this season.
“Thick fog may occur over the river basins and moderate to thick fog elsewhere over the country during midnight till noon while the temperature is falling gradually in the end of January. There will be moderate fog and cold wind all over the country till January 25. This time temperature may fall slightly, but there is no possibility of cold wave,” SM Mahmudul Hoque, Meteorologist, Bangladesh Metrological Department, said on Tuesday.
“There may be a mild cold spell over some parts of the northern region, but it will not last more than 72 hours. However, the temperature is expected to rise from the first week of February. Night temperature may fall slightly and day temperature may remain nearly unchanged over the country,” he said.