Kulaura Upazila

Kulaura
কুলাউড়া
Division Sylhet Division
District Maulvibazar District
Government
 • MP Maulvibazar-2 Nawab Abbas Ali Khan (Jatiya Party)
Area
 • Total 679.25 km2 (262.3 sq mi)
Population
 • Total 339,673
 • Density 500/km2 (1,295/sq mi)
Time zone BST (UTC+6)
Postal code 3230

Kulaura (Bengali: কুলাউড়া) is the biggest upazila (subdistricts) of the Moulvibazar district of in north-eastern Bangladesh. It is bounded by Balaganj and Fenchuganj upazilas of Sylhet district in the south, Barlekha upazila and Tripura of India in the east, Tripura again in the north and Rajnagar and Kamalganj upazilas in the west. The total area of this upazila is 495 km2. The average height of this locality from the sea level is about 54 feet. Even though most of the lands are plain, vast areas of its lands are hilly. A small part is very low lying including haors.

Kulaura was upgraded to an Upazila in 1982 and former Minster Air Vice Marshal (Retd.) A.G.Mahmud inaugurated the Upazila head quarters. Mr. Abdul Matin was the first elected Chairman of this Upazila. Late Abdul Jabbar was elected as the Upazila Chairman in the second term. Government suspended the Upazila Parishad in 1991. Present government reformed the upazila system and it has been declared that the election of the office the Chairman will be held very soon. Kulaura has been upgraded in to a Pourashava (municipal town). Mr. Abdul Malik is the present chairman of the pourashava. (For more details click on Pourashava section).

Contents

Geography

Kulaura is located at . It has 58,883 units of house hold and total area 679.25 km2 (262 sq mi). The river Manu is the principal and biggest river of this Upazila. Other rivers include Bilash, Fanai, Kapua, and Juri etc. The biggest haor of greater Sylhet, Hakaluki, belongs to Kulaura Upazila. These rivers and haors are the major sources of pisciculture not only for Kulaura but the whole Bangladesh. The haor beds serves as paddy land during monsoon and yields a lot of crops mainly boro. Kulaura is also famous for its tea industries. Rubber, orange, pineapple, mango, jack fruit and bamboo are also produced in this upazila.

Apart from haors and rivers the majority of its lands are plain. There are some hilly areas also.

History

A few of the companions of the great saint Hazrat Shah Jalal (RA) preached Islam and lived in Kulaura. Their shrines exist there till today as follows:

1) Hazrat Shah Helimuddin Nurnali (RA) – Although His shrine has been taken away by the erosion of Manu river, his dynasty still exists in the villages of Koala of Langla pargana and Hazipur of Kanihati pargana.

2) Hazrat Shah Helimuddin Qureshi (RA)-His holy shrine is located in the bank of the river Kanai.The famous Choudhuris of the village Monsur is believed to be his descendants.

3) Hazrat Hamid Faruqui (RA)-His holy shrine is located in the village Kaukapon of Kanihati union where His descendants are living.

4) Hazrat Syed Nasarullah-Even though there is no trace of His shrine, the Syed family of village Joy pasha of Kulaura is believed to be His descendants.

There is unclear history about many Hindu zaminders and famous Hindu families living in this upazila. However, many legacies of Muslim families are well documented. The family of Syed Amjad Ali Khan of Prithimpasha is not only a featured name in Moulvibazar alone but also the whole of Bangladesh. This family stemmed from the legendary family of Robi Khan. Mr.Ali Amjad khan hosted dignitaries like Shahanahah Reza Pahlavi of Iran, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Field Marshal Ayub Khan in his palace in Pritimpasha. This family draws a lot of visitors annually.

In 1960,Kulaura was divided officially into the following 17 unions:

1) Baramchal 2) Bhukshimahal 3) Jaifornagar 4) Joychandi 5) Brahmanbazar 6) Kadipur 7) Kulaura 8) Rauthgaon 9) Tilagaon 10) Hazipur 11) Sharifpur 12) Prithimpasha 13) Komoda 14) Fultola 15) Sagarnal 16) Goalbari 17) Bhatera

Many famous dignitaries of Indian sub-continent visited Kulaura and enriched its fame. They included novel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore, Quaid-E-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Sher –e-Bangla AK Fazlul Huq, Liakat Ali Khan, and Pandit Jawarlal Nehru

Demographics

As of 1991 Bangladesh census, Kulaura has a population of 339,673. Males constitute are 51.09% of the population, and females 48.91%. This Upazila's eighteen up population is 171,346. Kulaura has an average literacy rate of 28.8% (7+ years), and the national average of 32.4% literate.[1]

Administrative

Kulaura has 17 Unions/Wards, 184 Mauzas/Mahallas, and 486 villages.

The lists of the Union Parishads Chairman’s are here as under:

SL # NAME OF UNION
1 BOROMCHAL
2 BHUKSHIMAIL
3 JAIFORNAGAR
4 JOYCHANDI
5 BRAHMANBAZAR
6 KADIPUR
7 KULAURA
8 RAUTHGAON
9 TILAGAON
10 HAJIPUR
11 SHARIFPUR
12 PRITHIMPASHA
13 KARMODA
14 FULTOLA
15 SAGARNAL
16 GOALBARI
17 BHATERA

See also

References

  1. ^ "Population Census Wing, BBS.". Archived from the original on 2005-03-27. http://web.archive.org/web/20050327072826/http://www.bangladeshgov.org/mop/ndb/arpc91_v1/tables04.htm. Retrieved November 10, 2006. 

External links