Once, Sadarghat was the beating heart of Dhaka’s river trade and transport. From dawn till night, the launch terminal overflowed with travellers heading home or arriving in the capital. There was hardly any space to set your feet in the crowd.
Today, the scene is unrecognisable. Since the opening of the Padma Bridge, passenger numbers have collapsed. The bustle of one of the city’s busiest places has faded into silence, leaving a ghost of the past.
Hasan, a cabin clerk on the Barishal- Jhalokathi bound, Farhan-7, remembers the glory days. “We used to run three or four trips daily. Even six or seven hundred people couldn’t fit on the deck, and cabins were always booked. Now we’re lucky to get 200 passengers, even on Thursdays.”
Desperation has forced operators to reduce fares. The official deck ticket to Barishal is still Tk 300, but passengers now often board for Tk 150-200. Cabin prices, once Tk 1,200, are offered at Tk 700-800. Even then, losses mount. “We lose Tk 70-80 thousand on every trip. Still, we wait with hope,” Hasan added.
For passengers, the new reality brings its own frustrations. Limon’s mother, travelling from Jhalokathi for a doctor’s appointment in Dhaka, waited at the terminal to return home. The launch was scheduled to leave at 8:00 pm but departed half an hour or more later, as crews hold out for extra travellers.
Where once there was noise, chaos, and the rush of river life, now there is quiet. The fall of Sadarghat is not just the story of a terminal, but the fading of an era when the river carried the lifeblood of Dhaka.
