The government has increased the number of vessels connecting Calcutta with districts such as North 24-Parganas and Hooghly to meet the demand of transport as suburban train services remain suspended since the lockdown was declared in March.

As most of the ferry services to the districts across the Hooghly depended on motorised boats with limited passenger capacity, a source said, the transport department had directed the authorities concerned to halt those as it would double the number of bigger vessels.

“Before the lockdown, we had 16 vessels to ferry passengers across the Hooghly river to the districts of Hooghly and North 24-Parganas. After the unlock I period, we started to increase the number of vessels. At present, we are operating 27 vessels,” said Rajat Kanti Biswas, the joint managing director of West Bengal Transport Corporation.

Biswas was present at Khardah in North 24-Parganas on Thursday to officially inaugurate launch service to Rishra, which is on the other side of the Hooghly. The Khardah municipality had recently approached transport minister Suvendu Adhikari for two vessels to ply between Khardah and Rishra as a lot of people faced problems in commuting.

“Post-lockdown, people need to move for work. Trains, the main mode of transport, have not been running since the beginning of the lockdown. So, we requested the transport minister to start the ferry services from Khardah to Rishra,” said Kajal Sinha, the chairperson of board of administrators at Khardah municipality.

The municipality requested the transport department to start a ferry service from Khardah to Babughat to help commuters reach Calcutta using the waterways. The new vessels would replace the motorised boats that used to operate on the route earlier.

“The transport department has assured us that they will start trial run of the ferry service soon,” said Sinha, who was present in the inaugural ceremony of the vessel services along with Trinamul MLA from Uttarpara Prabir Ghoshal.

Sources in the transport department said already four new vessels had been allotted for Serampore to ply between various ghats in Calcutta and North 24-Parganas amid the post-lockdown situation.

“We have started a speed-vessel from Chandernagore that reaches Babughat in 40 minutes. It is helping commuters from Hooghly to reach Calcutta fast while maintaining physical distancing as per Covid protocol,” said a transport department official.

“All the ferry ghats have been asked to submit their demands for vessels to meet the rush of passengers and the government is trying to do its level best,” he said.