Sirajganj

About Sirajganj

Sirajganj stands at the western end of the Bangabandhu (Jamuna) Bridge, so almost everyone travelling between Dhaka and North Bengal crosses it. The Jamuna, one of the widest rivers in South Asia, forms the whole eastern side of the district. Its shifting chars in Kazipur, Chauhali and Belkuchi are home to tens of thousands of people who move as the river erodes and rebuilds the land. In the west, the Hurasagar, Baral and Ichamati drain towards Chalan Beel, which covers much of Tarash and Ullapara in the monsoon.

Sirajganj is known for two things above all: weaving and milk. Along the Jamuna, from Belkuchi and Enayetpur to Shahzadpur, households run handlooms and power looms that turn out a large share of the country's cotton saris, lungis and gamchhas. The low grazing lands, or bathan, around Shahzadpur support thousands of dairy farms, and Milk Vita's main processing plant stands at Baghabari on the border with Pabna.

History

The town is said to take its name from a local zamindar, Siraj Ali Chowdhury, and grew as a Jamuna river port. By the late nineteenth century it was one of the busiest jute markets in Bengal, shipping fibre downriver to Narayanganj and Kolkata. Sirajganj became a thana in 1885 under Pabna, later a subdivision, and a district in 1984. The Yusufshahi pargana around it was the centre of the 1873 Pabna peasant uprising. In the 1890s Rabindranath Tagore stayed at the family estate office in Shahzadpur, and several of his short stories draw on life there.

The district gave Bangladesh the writer and activist Syed Ismail Hossain Siraji and the national leader Captain M. Mansur Ali. The Bangabandhu Bridge opened in 1998 and transformed the area, and a dedicated rail bridge across the Jamuna opened alongside it in 2025.

Economy and livelihoods

Handloom weaving and dairy employ hundreds of thousands of people. Shahzadpur's cloth haat, beside the Tagore kachharibari, is described as the country's largest wholesale market for handloom goods, and Sohagpur and Enayetpur are other major cloth markets. Dairy cooperatives and private farms supply milk, ghee, butter and sweets across the country. Farming covers rice, jute, mustard, pulses and vegetables on the char lands. New industry is growing too: the Sirajganj Economic Zone near the bridge is described as the largest private economic zone in Bangladesh.

Food, culture and festivals

Weaving shapes local life, from the click of looms in Belkuchi courtyards to the haat days when buyers from Chattogram and beyond arrive. The Khwaja Yunus Ali shrine at Enayetpur draws large crowds of devotees. Monsoon boat races on the Jamuna and Chalan Beel remain popular, and dairy towns are known for doi, ghee and sweets made with fresh milk.

Places to visit in Sirajganj

1. Bangabandhu (Jamuna) Bridge and Eco Park

   The road-and-rail bridge of nearly 5 km is one of the longest in South Asia. The landscaped Jamuna Eco Park at its western end is a favourite picnic spot with views of the river.

2. Rabindra Kachharibari, Shahzadpur

   The Tagore family's estate office, where the poet stayed in the 1890s. It is now a museum with his furniture, a palanquin and photographs, set in a garden in the middle of town.

3. Navaratna Temple, Hatikumrul

   An eighteenth-century nine-spired brick temple near the Ullapara end of the Dhaka–North Bengal highway, decorated with terracotta panels. It is one of the largest navaratna temples in Bangladesh.

4. Jamuna riverfront (Hard Point), Sirajganj town

   The town's protective embankment on the Jamuna has become a promenade, busy in the evening with families watching the river and the boats.

5. Chalan Beel at Tarash

   In the monsoon the western upazilas open onto the great wetland, with boat trips, fishing villages and winter birdlife.

What Sirajganj is famous for

• Sirajganj handloom (taant) sari
• Handloom lungi
• Gamchha
• Ghee

How to get to Sirajganj

Sirajganj town is roughly 140 km from Dhaka, about 3–4 hours by bus across the Bangabandhu Bridge depending on traffic at the bridge. Most buses heading to North Bengal from Gabtoli and Mohakhali stop at the Sirajganj road junction near the bridge. The Sirajganj Express runs from Kamalapur to Sirajganj Bazar station, and many intercity trains stop at the bridge's western station. There is no airport in the district; Rajshahi is the nearest.

Markets and haats

Shahzadpur cloth haat

The country's best-known wholesale handloom market, held on Sundays and Wednesdays near the Tagore kachharibari. Saris are sold in pairs and lungis by the bundle to traders from across Bangladesh.

Sohagpur haat, Belkuchi

A large cloth market where grey fabric, saris and lungis from Belkuchi's looms change hands in bulk.

Enayetpur haat

A riverside weaving town near the Jamuna Bridge whose haat specialises in handwoven saris and lungis.

Sirajganj at a glance

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Questions about Sirajganj

More districts in Rajshahi Division

• Bogura Ancient Pundranagar, sweet curd and the gateway to North Bengal
• Joypurhat Potatoes, arum stolons and the country's biggest sugar mill
• Naogaon Rice bowl of the Barind, home of Paharpur and Amrapali mangoes
• Natore Rani Bhabani's palaces, Chalan Beel and the sweet kacha golla
• Chapainawabganj Mango orchards, Gaur's sultanate mosques and the songs of gombhira
• Pabna Onions, litchis and ghee between the Padma and the Jamuna
• Rajshahi Silk City on the Padma, famous for mangoes, temples and learning