Ferry service from damaged jetty to resume in a week: official

A ferry service between two ghats across the Hooghly was suspended after a floating landing platform of a jetty in Howrah district was damaged by the thrust of the river water during high tide.

Thousands of people who use the Kalibari Bauria ghat to reach Budgebudge in South 24 Parganas district across the river are facing hardship for the past two days.

"The gangway has been disconnected from the landing platform on Monday night. The ferry service has been suspended. We hope to reopen the service in a week," an official of the Hooghly Nadi Jalpath Paribahan Samabay Samity, that runs launch services across the river, said on Thursday.

The official said engineers of the state transport department has inspected the site.

The commuters are forced to take an alternative route to travel between Bauria and Budgebudge.

"We are forced to take bhootbhooti (mechanised boat) service from Bauria Thanaghat to Budgebudge Jhautala. But we are used to take launches from Kalibari ghat. Launches are safer and faster than bhootbhootis," one of the travellers said while standing in a long queue at Thanaghat.

The official said around 5,000 people daily use the launch service from Kalibari ghat.