Against the backdrop of a spate of launch disasters, shipping experts recommended introduction of a local classification society to reduce launch disasters by detecting unregistered vessels and ensuring safety requirements of the passenger ships plying inland waterways, sources said.

Over three thousands people died in 260 launch disasters in the country since 1979, according to official statistics. The unofficial estimate, however, suggests the death toll to be much higher than that.

Vessels with flawed designs and plying without fitness certificates were the major causes of those ferry disasters, sources said.

"Local classification society is the most cost-effective solution to ferry disasters in the country," said Khabirul Haque Chowdhury, an associate Professor of the Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering in Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).

He while explaining the advantage of the system said introduction of the system would bring a drastic reduction in the number of accident. Private companies would do the 95 percent work in this regard while the government will only have to deal with registration of the vessels on the basis of the recommendation.

But a section of officials at the Department of Shipping are opposed to the idea, as they feared the system might curtail their control over the inland shipping sector, sources said.

Under the system, a number of private companies would be appointed to check the standard of the passenger ships and cargo vessels. They as local classification society would also monitor the ship building process right from the beginning. They would issue fitness certificates to the vessels. No vessels would be allowed to ply without their certificates. Currently the shipping department is doing the job.

If introduced, the system would scale down the activities of the Department of Shipping.It (shipping department) would only be tasked with monitoring the activities of those private companies. However, the government would have the authority to cancel and punish the private companies for any kind of irregularities.

Following the suggestion, the government decided to introduce the system and the Department of Shipping called tender in August last year.

A total of eight local companies participated in the bid. A selection committee headed by the director general of shipping scrutinised the bid and selected four companies suitable for the job.

But the aggrieved companies complained to the minister and secretary of the shipping ministry that they had been deprived from the job without any valid reason.

They alleged that the four companies were selected on the basis of marks that was not mentioned in the tender. The advertisement only asked for application without mentioning clearly what sorts of documents to be attached with the application, they said.

Following the allegation, the shipping minister cancelled the selection of the committee and decided to appoint all the eight participating companies for working as classification society.

But now, after eight months, the government is going to cancel the whole tender process and start again from scratch, sources said.

Shipping Minister Akbar Hossain when contacted said the previous tender was cancelled because a section of the shipping department officials participated in the bid forming companies with their close relatives. It was a gross violation of terms and conditions of the service, he observed

Sources said cancellation of the previous tender has delayed the process of setting up local classification system at least for six months.

Akbar Hossain, earlier, admitted that a vested interest group in the Department of Shipping had been hindering the introduction of the system. He also committed himself to introduce the system within two months.