| Kalaigaon কলাইগাঁও, Kālāigaon |
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| — legislative assembly constituency — | |
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| Coordinates | |
| Country | India |
| State | Assam |
| District(s) | Udalguri |
| Member Of Legislative Assembly | Maheswar Bodo |
| Population • Density |
102,824 (2001[update]) • 432 /km2 (1,119 /sq mi) |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+05:30) |
| Area |
232 square kilometres (90 sq mi) • 37 metres (121 ft) |
Kalaigaon (Assamese: কলাইগাঁও, Hindi: कलाईगाँव, Kālāigaon) is a small town, as well as a Legislative Assembly Constituency. It is situated in the Udalguri district of Assam state in north-eastern India. Its geographical location is 26° 34' 28.53" N 91° 58' 32.42" E. The average attitude is 37 meters. The climate is humid and congenial, while the relative humidity is around 82%. The annual rainfall is 2,000 mm(Normal-approx.).
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The origin of name of this ancient place can be found in a local legend about a brahmin priest, named Kendukalai. According to the legend, he was supposedly able to cause the goddess Kamakhya Devi appear in her naked form in the temple where he worshiped, because of his devotion. The erstwhile Raja of Darrang district, coming to know of this, wished to see the goddess. Although the priest denied to do so at first, he had to bow to the king's wish from fear of death. He asked the king to hide near the temple and watch through a hole and began his worship. The goddess appeared and started dancing in the temple, but eventually saw the eyes of the King through the hole, coming to know of his treachery and in a fit of anger, decapitated the priest. The head of the deceased priest got thrown away by the force of the mortal blow and landed in a place 13 km north, which was later named as Muradeor. The name of Kendukalai later degraded to Kalaigaon. Even today, Kendukalai village exists 8 km west, towards Tangla, from present day Kalaigaon, on M.B. Road.
The earliest settlers were the various troops of the many kings of medieval Assam, mostly of Koch kingdom. After the British annexed Assam to the British Raj, the settlement came to the fore as a suitable place for administrating the nearby areas. The oldest government offices are the Police Station (established in 1882) at same place where it exists now, and the Post Office (established in 1886). Earlier the police station was responsible for a much larger area, from Mazbat in the east to Barnoi in the west. The police station limit is still vast with 120 villages. Till the 1960s Kalaigaon was well occupied by human settlements along with large number of wild animals roaming in the open. In 1961, when Acharya Vinoba Bhabe visited Assam, Kalaigaon was also a prominent place in his tour, among others. Veteran Assamese freedom fighter Late Pani Ram Das is a prominent personality & social worker from this town.
The current Member of Legislative Assembly from Kalaigaon LAC is Maheswar Bodo. He is responsible for proper functioning of the local administration and development of this area. Kalaigaon revenue circle is under a Sub-District Collector (SDC) who is responsible for collection of revenue from 103 villages within the circle. Out of the 103 villages, 51 fall under Silpota Mouza and 52 under Kalaigaon Mouza.
An army camp is also present in the town near the police station to help law and order under AFSPA(Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958).
In 2001, males constituted 51.1 percent and females at 48.9 percent of Kalaigaon's residents. Population is estimated to be around 120000 by 2011.
The economy of this place is heavily dependent on agriculture. Cultivation of rice is the primary agricultural activity, vegetables being a close second. However, over the last few years, consumerism has contributed to the steep rise in the consumer goods business. Due to heavy rice cultivation, many small indigenous rice mills like Tulsi Rice Mill, etc. came up in and around the town which supply rice to other parts of Assam; Guwahati being the largest consumer of its rice. The Kalaigaon rice brand has now set up its own identity in Assam. There are also a number of co-operative societies as well as banking institutes.[1] This place also has two weekly market days, one on Sundays and another on Thursdays. A unique feature being that livestock trading takes place on Thursdays almost exclusively, which is very rare in these parts of the world. These markets attracts a large amount of people around the district every Thursday and Sunday, often making transportation very cumbersome in the town. There are also a few tea gardens in and around this town. Before 1950, most of them were owned by British tea companies.
The town is well connected to the rest of Assam by the Mangaldai-Bhutiachang road which allows people to access the National Highway No. 52 at Mangaldai. Although this road was lying in various states of ruins during the better half of the last decade, it was repaired in 2010. Bus services are provide good connectivity to nearby towns and cities. Average time taken to travel to the town from nearest airport and capital city of Guwahati take about 2.5 to 3 hours. Shared taxi services, locally known as trekkers are also available.
Kalaigaon is a education destination for the youth in the nearby villages. There are many primary and secondary education institutes, as well as a college. Some of them are:
There is a State Dispensary in the town along with a number of pharmacies.
The population of this town is a mixture of various ethnic communities like the Bengali, Bamun, Bodo, Ganak, Kalita, Koch, Muslim, Rabha etc. A few Marowari and Christian families can also be found. In the recent years this town has seen a rapid increase in the population of illegal Bangladeshi and East Pakistani refugees. Although this place is generally peaceful, few cases of ethnic clashes are not unheard of. The population of this place is very culture and tradition sensitive. The population of the town organizes cultural rallies, meetings, exhibitions and other extravaganzas quite frequently. The yearly Raax festival of lower Assam, Bihu, Eid, Durga Puja etc. are held with gaiety.
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