Phulbari Upazila (Dinajpur District)

Phulbari Upazila (dinajpur district) area 228.49 sq km, located in between 25°17' and 25°32' north latitudes and in between 88°44' and 89°01' east longitudes. It is bounded by parbatipur and chirirbandar upazilas on the north, birampur upazila on the south, nawabganj (dinajpur) and Birampur upazilas on the east, west bengal state of India on the west.'

Population Total 176023; male 88984, female 87039; Muslim 146065, Hindu 23655, Buddhist 6, Christian 3214 and others 3083.

Water bodies Main river: little jamuna.

Administration Phulbari Thana was formed in 1857 and it was turned into an upazila in 1984.

Upazila
Municipality	Union	Mouza	Village	Population		Density (per sq km)	Literacy rate (%)
				Urban	Rural		Urban	Rural
1	7	151	152		34786	141237	770	62.3	50.1

Municipality
Area (sq km)	Ward	Mahalla	Population	Density (per sq km)	Literacy rate (%)
16.04	9	14	34786	2169	62.3

Union
Name of union and GO code	Area (acre)	Population		Literacy rate (%)
		Male	Female
Aladipur 25	7780	10056	9742	50.1
Eluary 47	9759	11656	11388	52.2
Kazihal 66	9127	9830	9667	50.4
Khayerbari 76	3490	5537	5416	51.9
Betdighi 28	8504	10677	10703	53.0
Daulatpur 38	4744	7006	6903	46.1
Shibnagar 84	9098	16571	16085	47.8

Source  Bangladesh Population Census 2011, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.

Archaeological heritage and relics Damodarpur City, Garh Govinda.

Historical events In 1947 tebhaga movement was held under the leaderships of Shamsuddin Ahmed and Rupnarayan in this upazila.

War of Liberation On 29 March 1971 an encounter was held between the freedom fighters and the Pak army on the Dinajpur road in which the freedom fighters destroyed a number of military vehicles and captured huge amount of supplies including arms and ammunitions of the Pak army. There is a mass grave and a mass killing (Barai) in the upazila; a memorial monument has been built at the premises of Sujapur High School.

For details: see ফুলবাড়ী উপজেলা, বাংলাদেশ মুক্তিযুদ্ধ জ্ঞানকোষ (Encyclopedia of Bangladesh War of Liberation), বাংলাদেশ এশিয়াটিক সোসাইটি, ঢাকা ২০২০, খণ্ড ৬।

Literacy rate and educational institutions Average literacy 52.6%; male 54.6%, female 50.5%. Educational institutions: college 6, vocational centre 8, secondary school 44, primary school 102, madrasa 18. Noted educational institutions: Daulatpur Girls' High School (1912), Ramchandrapur Girls' High School (1913), Rajarampur SU High School (1913), Rudrani High School (1915), Sujapur High School (1919), Phulbari GM Pilot High School (1920), Phulbari DS Fazil Madrasa.

Newspapers and periodicals Weekly: Janamat (defunct).

Cultural organisations Library 1, club 41, jatra party 2, cinema hall 4.

Main sources of income Agriculture 68.83%, non-agricultural labourer 2.98%, industry 0.9%, commerce 12.41%, transport and communication 3.73%, service 5.55%, construction 0.65%, religious service 0.2%, rent and remittance 0.17% and others 4.58%.

Ownership of agricultural land Landowner 50.29%, landless 49.71%; agricultural landowner: urban 44.41% and rural 51.53%.

Main crops Paddy, wheat, jute, sugarcane, potato, pulse, oil seed, vegetables.

Extinct or nearly extinct crops Aus paddy, bhadai paddy, betel leaf, tobacco.

Main fruits Mango, banana, jackfruit.

Fisheries, dairies and poultries Dairy 125, poultry 105.

Communication facilities Pucca road 150 km, semi-pucca road 6 km, mud road 327 km; railway 12 km.

Extinct or nearly extinct traditional transport Palanquin, bullock cart.

Noted manufactories Rice mill, saw mill, oil mill, ice factory, printing press.

Cottage industries Goldsmith, potteries, bamboo work, wood work.

Hats, bazars and fairs Hats and bazars are 48, fairs 3, most noted of which are Phulbari Bazar Hat, Barai Hat, Ambari Hat, Amdungi Hat, Atpukur Hat, Madila Hat, Phulbari Mela.

Main exports Paddy, wheat, banana.

Access to electricity All the wards and unions of the upazila are under rural electrification net-work. However 42.2% of the dwelling households have access to electricity.

Natural resources Coal mine has been discovered in this upazila in 1997.

Sources of drinking water Tube-well 97.4%, tap 1.3% and others 1.3%.

Sanitation 53.6% of dwelling households of the upazila use sanitary latrines and 26.8% of dwelling households use non-sanitary latrines; 19.6% of households do not have latrine facilities.

Health centres Hospital 1, upazila health complex 1, union health and family planning centre 6, clinic 2.

NGO activities Operationally important NGOs are brac, asa, thengamara mahila sabuj sangha. [Md. Rezaul Karim]

References Bangladesh Population Census 2001 and 2011, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics; Cultural survey report of Phulbari Upazila 2007.