The Calcutta High Court has ordered that ferry services operating from bamboo jetties be stopped across West Bengal, directing the police to take immediate action against such facilities and their operators.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Ravindra V Ghugе and Justice Om Prakash Rai issued the order while hearing a public interest litigation filed by Aishwarya Gopalakrishnan, according to advocate Ghanshyam Pandey, who represented the matter. The bench also directed the state government to submit a detailed report on October 7 explaining how many such unsafe ferry ghats are operating and what action has been taken.
The court said that boats could not be operated, and goods could not be transported across the river, from any ferry ghat with a bamboo jetty anywhere in the state. It further ordered that if such ferry services continued, the owner of the facility would have to be arrested immediately and police would be required to act.
The court’s intervention follows concerns raised in the petition about the safety of ferry passengers, particularly those travelling across the Hooghly and other waterways. The petition stated that thousands of people use ferry ghats every day to cross from one bank to another, while bamboo jetties remain exposed and open on both sides, creating a risk of people falling into the water.
The petition also raised safety concerns at ferry ghats with permanent jetties, stating that steamers operating from these facilities do not always have adequate arrangements for life jackets. It referred to several boat accidents, including incidents in Jabalpur and Patna, while asking the court to direct authorities to make ferry services safer.
The Chief Justice said the public interest litigation would be meaningful if it helped save even one life from accidents linked to bamboo jetties. The observation places the focus on the safety standards of river transport infrastructure, rather than only on the operation of individual ferry routes.
The order requires the state government to provide details on the number of bamboo-jetty ferry ghats across West Bengal and the enforcement measures already undertaken. The police have been directed to act immediately against facilities operating in violation of the court’s order, while the government’s detailed report is due before the bench on October 7.
