Reported by: Jafar Ahmed

Written by: Eshan Maitra

Combined sub-committee from Ministries of Naval Transportation and Energy, agreed to shut-down ships that are 20-40 years old by 2022. But, Ministry of Energy declared to shut them down immediately. As a result, thousands of workers of 40 ships, are currently unemployed and tensed about their future. Naval Ministry source informed that, these Single Hull Double Bottom & Double Hull Single Bottom, 40 ship had been running through the internal river ways from Narayanganj Depot after independence. But the mentioned combined sub-committee gave the terms of 8 shut-down on March. The ships already started to upgrade from single to double hulls. But, the Ministry of Energy sent letters to fuel suppliers Padma, Meghna and Jamuna, to stop supplying fuels to these 40 ships. That, made them shut down and thousands of workers are now unemployed. These workers had been working at these ships for 15-40 years now. They are singularly experts at their particular jobs and very much experience. Losing their jobs have created a panic among them, informs Naval Transportation Workers Federation President Chowdhury Ashiqul Alam.