Bharuch: While Ro-Pax ferry operations on Dahej – Ghogha route are halted at least till December 7 for repair, the Ro-Ro ferry operations are also halted for three days for scheduled maintenance.

According a private operator, ‘Indigo One – RoRo passenger ferry operations are paused for three days for scheduled maintenance. Ghogha – Dahej sea route will restart operation from 29th November 2018.’

Meanwhile, when analyzed the root cause of technical problem in Ro-Pax ferry was found in plastic pollution. Indian Express reports, a piece of plastic got stuck in one of the pipes that supply seawater for cooling vital parts of RO-Pax ferry, “Voyage Symphony”, had caused the vessel to stall mid-sea with over 400 passengers in Gujarat’s Gulf of Khambhat on November 21. A piece of plastic used to wrap a mixture of areca nut, betel leaf, slaked lime and tobacco — locally called as “mawa” — got sucked into the pipe that supplies water at a high pressure.

“For cooling, we lift water directly from the sea. One of the water-lifting points is near the propeller. The water lifted from here cools the shaft… Because of low depth, the propeller kicks up a lot of mud from the seabed and it gets sucked inside. The diameter of the pipe had already shrunk due to mud depositions. It could be coincidental or our bad luck that a piece of plastic got sucked at a high pressure and it blocked the entire pipe. Water could not reach the shaft and the ball-bearings located towards the rear-end of the vessel. Engines were under pressure to rotate the shaft and so the alarms went on,” Chetan Contractor, chairman and managing director of Surat-based company Indigo Seaways Pvt Ltd that manages and operates the ferry service, told The Indian Express.