Alamdanga Upazila

Alamdanga Upazila (chuadanga district) area 380.38 sq km, located in between 23°37' and 23°50' north latitudes and in between 88°47' and 89°00' east longitudes. It is bounded by mirpur (kustia) and gangni upazilas on the north, harinakunda and kustia sadar upazilas on the east, chuadanga sadar and damurhuda upazilas on the south, meherpur sadar and gangni upazilas on the west.

Population Total 308917; male 158951, female 149966; Muslim 299878, Hindu 8919, Christian 11 and others 109.

Water bodies Main rivers: kumar and nabaganga.

Administration Alamdanga Thana was turned into an upazila in 1982.

Upazila
Municipality	Union	Mouza	Village	Population		Density (per sq km)	Literacy rate (%)
				Urban	Rural		Urban	Rural
1	13	126	203	69188	239729	812	49.54	37.18

Municipality
Area (sq km)	Ward	Mahalla	Population	Density (per sq km)	Literacy rate (%)
9.60	9	18	27040	2817	60.65

Upazila Town
Area (sq km)	Mouza	Population	Density (per sq km)	Literacy rate (%)
46.97	14	42148	897	42.26

Union
Name of union and GO code	Area (acre)	Population		Literacy rate (%)
		Male	Female
Kalidaspur 51	-	10458	9886	40.36
Kumari 87	5015	8841	8290	42.14
Khadimpur 71	12839	20288	18595	40.76
Khaskara 79	7121	10846	10079	35.5
Gangni 39	9977	10627	10053	40.96
Jamjami 55	5408	8906	8228	37.06
Jehala 63	5091	9683	8942	39.35
Dauki 31	6031	8471	8465	35.58
Nagdaha 94	11867	14636	13872	32.01
Baradi 15	5303	8723	8257	34.26
Belgachhi 13	4671	7134	7152	36.92
Bhangabaria 23	6924	12682	11748	39.16
Hardi 47	6439	13922	13093	37.70

Source  Bangladesh Population Census 2001, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.

Archaeological heritage and relics 'Gholdari Mosque (Nagdaha), Teyorbila Mosque (Khaskarra), Jamjami Mosque, Bademaju Mosque, Sonatanpur Mandir and Gholdari Nilkuthi.

Historical events In eighteen century the peasants of Alamdanga revolted against the indigo plantation. Maheshchandra Chatterjee united the peasants and led armed revolution against the indigo planters. During the war of liberation a number of rajakars and Pak soilders were killed or wounded in frontal encounters with the freedom fighters in Baliapur and Benagari villages.

Marks of the War of Liberation 'Mass grave 1 (on the bank of GK Canal adjacent to the Alamdanga railway station).

Religious institutions Mosque 228, temple 4, church 4.

Literacy rate and educational institutions Average literacy 39.96%; Male 42.92%, female 36.83%. Noted educational institutions: Alamdanga College (1965), M S Joha Degree College (1994), Alamdanga Multilateral (Pilot) Secondary School (1914), Hat Boalia Secondary School (1925), Munshiganj Academy (1944).

Cultural organizations Library 2, club 18, theatre group 7, cinema hall 7.

Main source sources of income' Agriculture 41.76%, non-agriculture labourer 27.35%, industry 0.84%, business 12.54%, service 3.78%, construction 0.87%, religious service' 0.17%, rent and remittance 0.43%, transport and communication 2.89% and others 6.01%.

Ownership of agricultural land Landowner 62.44%, landless 37.56%; agricultural landowner: urban 50.12%, rural 65.93%.

Main crops Paddy, jute, wheat, sugarcane, pulse, potato, corn, gram, tobacco, betel nut, betel leaf.

Extinct and nearly extinct crops' Sesame, mustard, indigo.

Main fruits Mango, jackfruit, papaya, banana.

Fisheries, dairies and poultries Fishery 3, dairy 4, poultry 17.

Communication facilities Pucca road 58.40 km, semi pucca road 45.50 km, mud road 359.50 km; railways 22 km.

Extinct or nearly extinct traditional transport Palanquin, boat, horse carriage.

Noted manufactories Sugar mill, flour mill, rice mill, threshed rice (chira) mill, saw mill, ice factory.

Cottage industries Weaving, blacksmith, potteries, bamboo work, cane work.

Hats, bazars and fairs Total hats bazars are 24, fairs 2, most noted of which are Munshiganj Hat, Alamdanga Hat, Asmankhali Hat, Gokulkhali Hat, Boalia Hat and Baul Mela (Gopinathpur) and Poush Samkranti Mela.

''Main exports Tobacco, betel leaf, betel nut, jute.

Access to electricity All the wards and unions of this upazila are under rural electrification net-work. However 29.15% of the dwelling households only have access to electricity.

Sources of drinking water Tube-well 92.73%, pond 0.07%, tap 0.56% and others 6.64%. The level of arsenic contamination in the tube-well water is 34.94% which is 34.89% higher than normal level. As a result a lot of' people are suffering from many diseases including skin disease.

Sanitation 20.76% of dwelling households (rural 16.40% and urban 36.10%) of the upazila use sanitary latrines and 39.37% of dwelling houses (urban 40.03% and rural 37.04%) use non-sanitary latrines; 39.87% of households do not have sanitation facilities.

Heath centres Upazila health complex 1, health and family welfare centre 14.

NGO activities Operationally important NGOs are brac, asa, care, Wave Foundation, Sajaag, Sreejani. [Md Faysal Kibria]

References Bangladesh Population Census 2001, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics; Cultural Survey Report of Alamdanga Upazila 2007.