Boatmen strike in Bihar leaves many stranded

The strike by boatmen in Bihar left a newlywed couple stranded on the shores of River Ganga on Tuesday, as the marriage party waited for several hours at a Patna city ghat to return to their homes.

The newlywed couple and their family members waited for several hours at the Jethuli ghat in Patna city, but to no avail. "The wedding was solemnised on Monday, following which we had to return home with the bride. But the strike has left us stranded. We are looking for other options, but there doesn't seem to be any feasible alternatives," said Surendra Prasad, brother of the groom Rahul Kumar.

The strike was called to protest the arrest of seven boatmen, who were put behind bars for sailing overloaded boats in River Ganga between Patna city and Raghopur last week. The local district administration had also made it clear that no boats would be allowed to sail without getting the required licence, which irked the oarsmen more.

Apart from the marriage party, a Raghopur resident, Khushbu, who had come to Fatuha in Patna for her treatment, was waiting at the shore with her mother Savitri Devi to take a boat back home. Raghopur, the assembly constituency of Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, Leader of the Opposition in Bihar assembly, is separated from Patna by the river, and boats are the only connectivity to the riverine area.

Among the others stranded on the various ghats were school teachers, who are deployed at various government schools in Raghopur. "Most of the teachers in Raghopur schools travel daily from Patna or Fatuha. They have no choice, but to wait at the ghat in the hope that boats may start plying," a schoolteacher said.

The Bihar government enforced strict rules regarding plying of private boats in the state after several incidents of capsizing and drowning deaths took place in the recent years.