WELCOME
TO
LALMONIRHAT
Media and Research Cell
District Administration, Lalmonirhat
Geographical features
Lalmonirhat is a border-lying district in northern Bangladesh. It is located between 25.48 degree to 26.27 degrees North latitudes and between 88.38 degrees to 89.36 degrees East longitudes. To the north of this district lie the districts of Coochbehar and Jalpaiguri in the Indian state of West Bengal, to the south is Rangpur district, to the east are Kurigram and Indian Coochbehar districts, and to the west are Rangpur and Nilphamari districts. To the north of this district flows the Dharala river and to its south the river Teesta.
The geographical locations of the five upazilas of Lalmonirhat district are as follows:
Name ofUpazila / Area / Location
Lalmonirhat Sadar / 259.54 sq.km. / In the north are Coochbehar district of India, and Aditmari upazila of Lalmonirhat district. In the south lie Kaunia upazila, Rangpur district and Rajarhat upazila, Kurigram district. In the east are Phulbari and Rajarhat upazila of Kurigram district. In the west are Aditmari upazila of Lalmonirhat district and Gangachara upazila of Rangpur district.
Aditmari / 190.03 sq.km. / In north is Coochbehar district of India, in the south is Gangachara upazila of Rangpur district, in the west is Kaliganj upazila and in the east, Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila.
Kaliganj / 236.96 sq.km. / In the north are Coochbehar district of India and Hatibandha upazila of Lalmonirhat district, in the south are Gangachara upazila of Rangpur district and Nilphamari district’s Kishoreganj upazila. In the east is Aditmari upazila and in the west is Nilphamari district’s Jaldhaka upazila.
Hatibandha / 288.42 sq.km. / In the north are Coochbehar district of India, and Patgram upazila of Lalmonirhat district, in the south is Kaliganj upazila, in the east is Coochbehar district and in the west are Nilphamari district’s Jaldhakaand Dimla upazilas.
Patgram / 261.51 sq.km. / In the east, west, and north is Coochbehar district of India and in the south also Coochbehar and Hatibandha upazila.
Etymology
There are several explanations for the origin of the name ‘Lalmonirhat’. They are:
1. When there was a lot of digging going on for the construction of the Bengal Duar Rail line in the 19th century, workers found red stones beneath the ground. That is how the place came to be called ‘Red Gemstone’, or ‘Lal-moni’.
2. According to another story, the land that the British Railways occupied for the construction of the Bengal Dooars Rail-line belonged to a woman named Lalmoni. Local people began to call the area ‘Lalmoni’ as recognition of her contribution.
3. Yet another story is that in 1783, a female farmer by the name of Lalmoni helping the peasant leader, Nuruluddin, in the fight for peasants’ rights against British soldiers and Indian zamindars sacrificed her life. The place came to be called ‘Lalmoni’ in honour of her sacrifice.
With time, as settlement around this place grew, the word ‘haat’, meaning ‘market’ came to be added to ‘Lalmoni’ and the name became established as Lalmonirhat.
Emergence as a district:
On 1st February 1984, Lalmonirhat was formally inaugurated as a district from a sub-division by the then Minister of Social Welfare and Women’s Affairs, Dr Shafia Khatun. On 18th March 1984, it was announced that Lalmonirhat Sadar Police Station would be an upazila. This brought the total number of upazilas in Lalmonirhat district to five – namely, Patgram, Hatibandha, Kaliganj, Aditmari, and Lalmonirhat Sadar. At this time, the union parishads (Union council- the grass root/lowest tier of administrative unit in Bangladesh) of Chhinai, Rajarhat, and Ghariyaldanga of Lalmonirhat Sadar were added to the adjacent district of Kurigram, thus bringing the total number of union parishads in this newly formed Lalmonirhat district to 41, with 1 municipality. At present there are 45 union parishads in Lalmonirhat. In 1985 the enclaves Dahagram and Angarpota were recognized as a union parishad. With this official recognition on 19th August 1985, the total number of unions in Lalmonirhat district increased to 42. The first office of the Deputy Commissioner was in the old premises of the Diabetic Society. It then moved to where the present day Majida Khatun Government Women’s College is located at the end of 1986. Finally in June 1988 this office moved to its present location.
District Information in Brief
Area / 1247.371sq.kmLength of international border
(River border: 24 km.) / 281.6 km
Population / 1256099 total (Census of 2011)
Male: 628799
Female: 627300
Rate of literacy / 65%
Number of upazilas: / 5
Number of police stations / 5
Number of municipalities / 2
Number of union parishads / 45
Number of mouzas / 354
Number of villages / 478 (Census of 2011)
Number of rivers / 6
Number of mosques / 2450
Number of temples / 741
Number of NGOs / 57
Number of Govt. grain storage / 7
Capacity of grain storage / 16,500 metric tonnes
Number of banks / 49
Number of telephone exchanges / 5
Post office / 70
Border outposts (BGB) / 23
Bangladeshi Enclaves inside India / 31
Indian Enclaves inside Bangladesh / 59
Number of secondary schools / 212
Number of government primary schools / 754
Number of non-governmental primary schools / 9
Number of Madrasas / 85
Private Polytechnic institute / 3
Technical school and college / 1
Total amount of land / 124093 hectares
Cultivable land / 98875 hectares
Irrigated land / 48450 hectares
Deep irrigation systems / 210
Shallow irrigation systems / 38535
Agricultural khas (Public) land / 7483.038 acres
Non-agricultural khas (Public) land / 6070.33 acres
Number of model (Cluster) villages / 46
Ashrayon scheme / 38
Abason scheme / 17
Number of village/ town markets / 101
Public ponds / 46
Abandoned property / 132.85 acres
Vested property / 3807.975 acres
Government Hospitals (100-bed) / 1
Upazila Health Complex (50-bed) / 5
Private clinics / 12
Upazila health complex / 5
10-bed special hospital / 1
Maternal and child care centre / 1
Community Clinic / 160
Family Welfare Centre / 38
Small-scale industries / 642
Animal Hospital / 6
Union Animal care centres / 20
Cattle farms / 320
Poultry farms / 285
Dairy farms / 314
Pucca (asphalted) roads / 964.95 km
Unpaved roads / 2748 km
Rail tracks / 96 km
Rail stations / 15
Public Fish Hatchery: 1 / 1
Private Fish Hatchery / 10
Number of ponds under fish farming (Public) / 96
Number of ponds under fish farming (Private) / 20696
33 KV line / 156 km
11 KV line / 241 km
Rural electricity line / 1081 km
Number of fire stations / 5
Govt. Forest / Reserved forests – 483.66 Acres & Protected forests – 82 acre
Annual Average Rainfall / 293.1 cm
Buffer Storage ( For Chemical Fertilizer) / 1
Dak-bungalow (Small Rest House of District Council) / 5
Daily Newspapers / 1 (not in publication presently)
Weekly newspapers / 1
Places of Tourist and Historical Interest in the District
1. Teen Bigha Corridor and Dahagram-Angarpota enclaves:
Location: Patgram upazila, Kuchlibari Union.
Brief history: The largest Bangladeshi enclaves, falling under the jurisdiction of Lalmonirhat district, located within the Indian borderland are Dahagram and Angarpota. During pre-liberation period a ‘passage door’ arrangement had been established to connect these enclaves with mainland East Pakistan. This is known as the Teen Bigha Corridor today. From Pakistan times to the present day, numerous bilateral dialogues have been held at the prime ministerial and senior secretarial levels and agreements signed regarding the
Teen Bigha Corridor
transfer of the Teen Bigha Corridor. Since 1985, Angarpota and Dahagram have been constituted a separate union council called Dahagram under Patgram upazila, and this was officially established on 19th August 1989.On 26th June 1992, the Teen Bigha Corridor was leased to Bangladesh for the passage of Bangladeshis for a fixed number of hours during the day. Subsequently, when the demand arose, on 27th April 2001 it was agreed to keep it open continuously from 6:30 am to 6:30 pm and necessary arrangements were made. Finally, from 6th September 2011, with the signing of the Hasina-Manmohan agreement in Dhaka, the Teen Bigha Corridor has been kept open 24 hrs for the passage of Bangladeshis.
2. Teesta Barrage and Abashar Rest House:
Location: Bangladesh’s largest dam and irrigation project, the Teesta Barrage, has been constructed between Gaddimari Union in Lalmonirhat district’s Hatibandha upazila and Khalisha Chapani Union in Nilphamari district’s Dimla upazila on the River Teesta. Right next to the Barrage, amidst wonderful natural beauty, is located the Abashar Rest House.
Brief history: In 1937, the government of the British India conceived of the Teesta Barrage project to increase the yield and acreage of cultivable land through irrigation facilities for the people of Greater Rangpur, Dinajpur and Bogra districts in northern Bangladesh. The main plan was finalized in 1953. Even though work on this project started in 1957 it could not be continued because of several complications. In 1979, work finally started in full swing to build the 44 radial gates in the 615 m wide Barrage on the River Teesta between the then Lalmonirhat and Nilphamari sub-divisions. Construction was completed in 1990.
Aboshor Rest House Teesta Barrage
3. Burimari Land Port:
Location: Srirampur Union in Patgram upazila.
Brief history: This land port was established in 1988 at the India-Bangladesh border for Bangladesh to conveniently import and export goods by land with India, Bhutan, and Nepal. Goods such as coal, timber, stone, cement, china clay, fertilizers, cosmetics, animal feed, various fruits, vegetables, and grains, seeds and so on are imported from India, Nepal, and Bhutan
Burimari Land Port
through this port. Among the goods that are exported from Bangladesh are hilsa fish (National fish of Bangladesh), melamine products and medicines.
4. House and Grave of Poet Sheikh Fazlal Karim:
Location: Kakina Union in Kaliganj upazila, known locally as ‘Kabi Bari’ or ‘Poet’s House’.
Brief history: Writer Fazlal Karim was born on 30th Chaitra 1289 (Bengali calendar) in Kakina village under Kakina police station. His mother’s name was Kokila Bibi.
Poet Sheikh Fazlal Karim Graveyard of Poet Sheikh Fazlal Karim
He breathed his last in 1936 in his own house in Kakina and is buried there. To keep his memory and legacy burning bright, a primary and girls’ high school was established in the grounds of the Collectorate (Office of the Collector) in Lalmonirhat municipality in 1985.
5. Zamindari House of Tushbhandar:
Location: Tushbhandar village in Kaliganj upazila, 40 kms from Lalmonirhat town.
Zamindari House of Tushbhandar
Brief history: It was during the reign of Maharaja Pran Narayan of Coochbehar the founding ancestor of the Tushbhandar estate, Murari Deb Ghoshal Bhattacharya, moved from Joynagar, Kolkata to Coochbehar. Under the prevailing social system he acquired the said estate as a high caste Brahman and settled there in 1634. At that time, there was a custom of donating land for the use of religious purposes. Murari Deb Ghoshal brushed aside objections of using this land donated by a lower caste ruler and requested the Coochbehar state ruler to accept taxes from that land. Eventually the queen agreed to accept ‘tush’ (the granular remains after the husk has been taken off rice grains) as tax on the land. This ‘tush’ used to be collected in a mountainous pile near the estate before being sent to the Coochbehar royal palace. This ‘tush’ sent by the brahman would be used in all sacred rituals in the palace. It is said locally that this is how the name of the estate came to be ‘Tush bhandar’ or the ‘Storehouse of Tush’. It is through Murari Deb Ghoshal Bhattacharya’s reforms that the rigidity of caste decreased here and finally, with the death of zamindar Girindra Mohan Ray Choudhury in 1935, the zamindari ceased to exist altogether in this estate.
6. Zamindari House of Kakina:
Location: Kakina village in Kaliganj upazila, 30 kms from Lalmonirhat town.
Zamindari House of Kakina
Brief history: During the time of King Mod Narayan, Kakina used to be a kind of estate under the jurisdiction of the Coochbehar princely state. Indra Narayan Chakrabarty used to be in charge of this estate at that time. In 1687 when the Mughal faujdar of Ghoraghat, Ibadat Khan, declared war against the Koch king Mod Narayan, two cousins of Mod Narayan, Raghabendra Narayan and Ram Narayan both joined against the king. When the Mughals defeated the Koch army, Chakrabarty was removed from his position and these two cousins were made in charge at Kakina, marking the start of a new ancestry there. During a subsequent time of zamindar Mahendra Ranjan, his extravagant and wasteful ways led to the bankruptcy of this estate. Finally, in 1925, unable to pay debts to the princely state, colonial government, and moneylenders, the zamindari was auctioned off and its administration handed over to the colonial Court of Wards. The zamindar left with his whole family and went to Kurseong, where he died in 1939.
7. Nidariya Mosque:
Location: Kisamat Nagarbanda village in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila. It is located 2 km south off the Rangpur-Kurigram highway.
Nidariya Mosque Stone inscription of Nidariya Mosque
Brief history: Mughal subedar Mansur Khan donated 10.56 acres of land for and built this mosque in 1176 Hijri. Influential persons at that time were Izhar Mahmud Sheikh, Bijar Mahmud Sheikh, Khan Mahmud Sheikh and so on. As local memory and story-telling goes, since Subedar Mansur Khan did not have a beard, the newly built mosque came to be called ‘Nidariya’ or ‘Not-bearded’. Presently local residents use this mosque for prayer.