Gopalganj District

Gopalganj
District
Location of Gopalganj in Bangladesh
Coordinates: 23.20°N 89.80°ECoordinates: 23.20°N 89.80°E
Country	Bangladesh
Division	Dhaka Division
Area
• Total	1,489.92 km2 (575.26 sq mi)
Population (2011)
• Total	1,172,415
• Density	790/km2 (2,000/sq mi)
Literacy rate
• Total	51.4%
Time zone	BST (UTC+6)
• Summer (DST)	BDST (UTC+7)
Website	Banglapedia Article

Gopalganj (Bengali: গোপালগঞ্জ জেলা) is a district (zila in Bengali) in the Dhaka division (bibhag in Bengali) of Bangladesh. The district has about 1.1 million inhabitants and its surface area is 1,490 km². The main city of the district is also called Gopalganj
Gopalganj is subdivided into five subdistricts (upazila/thana).
The district is the political bastion of the Awami League. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first President of Bangladesh, hailed from the village of Tungipara in the district. Sheikh Mujib's nephew Sheikh Fazlul Haq Mani had also been elected to parliament from Gopalganj-2 constituency. Both were brutally assassinated on August 15, 1975.
Sheikh Mujib's daughter Sheikh Hasina Wajed, has been elected four times as the member of the parliament (MP) from Gopalganj-3 constituency and twice as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh. Her cousin and Sheikh Mani's brother, Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim has been elected four times as the MP from Gopalganj-2 constituency.
Recently Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Gopalganj has constructed a webportal of the district as www.dcgopalganj.gov.bd [1] under Access to Information program of the Prime Minister's Office. This has been done under the Digital Bangladesh implementation concept of the incumbent government.

Contents

• 1 History
• 2 Administration
• 3 Subdivisions
• 4 Religion
• 5 Places of interest
• 6 Transportation
• 7 References
• 8 External links

History

This section requires expansion. (January 2007)

Gopalganj district consists of 5 Upazillas (previously known as 'Thana' which is essentially a subdistrict) - Gopalganj Sadar, Kotalipara, Kashiani, Muksedpur, and Tungipara. The main town is known as Gopalganj. Gopalganj was far away for administration. So it was made Thana by referring Calcutta Gazette in 1870. In the year of 1909, Gopalganj became sub division comprising Sadar, Kotalipara, Kashiani, Muksedpur. Tungipara was then included in Sadar. Gopalganj District was established in 1984, prior to this it was a subdivision of (Faridpur District). The first SDO (sub-divisional officer) was Mr. Suresh Candra Sen. Tungipara was emancipated as upazilla in 1984 by breaking sadar. After the liberation war, Gopalganj sadar become Pourashava and Panna Biswas was selected as the first chairman.
Gopalganj is associated with significant importance in Bangladesh politics. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first president of Bangladesh, was from Gopalganj. His political career started here. His daughter Sheikh Hasina is currently serving her second term as the prime minister of Bangladesh. Molla Jalal, Khan Saheb Sheikh Mosharrof Hossain were among other popular political leaders of this area.
In liberation war, freedom fighters of this district were prominent. Hemaet Uddin, leader of hemaet bahini is also the son of this soil. His gallant contribution is known to all. More than 5 police members who took part in first protest at Rajarbag Police Line were also born here.
Gopalganj has a great transportation system. It takes 5 hours from the capital of Dhaka by road ( depending on traffic). Currently, there is no train or air facility. ^[1]

Administration

Gopalganj (Town) consists of 9 wards and 49 mahallas. Gopalganj municipality was constituted in 1972. The area of the town is 8.59 km². The town has a population of 40987; male 53.27%, female 46.73%. The density of population is 4771 per km².
Administrator of Zila Porishod: Kazi Abdur Rashid [2]
Deputy Commissioner (DC): Sheikh Yousuf Harun [3]

Subdivisions

1. Gopalganj Sadar Upazila
2. Kashiani Upazila
3. Kotalipara Upazila
4. Muksudpur Upazila
5. Tungipara Upazila

Religion

Religion in Gopalganj District
Religion			Percent
Islam			50.4%
Hinduism			45%
Buddhism			2.5%
Christianity			2%
others			1.5%

The district of Gopalganj consists 356 mosques, 359 temples, six churches and four tombs.

Places of interest

• Ulpur has a former Zamindar palace which is currently used a Tafsil Office. This are also has many other Zamindar mansions from Mughal and British era. Arpara has a zamindar palace of former zaminder Late Munshi Abdur Razzak Chowdhury. Nation's founder Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was laid to rest in his hometown Tungipara, which is a popular tourist attraction. Other places of Gopalganj include Court Mosque, Gaohor Danga Madrasa, Madhumati river, Bornir Baor and Tangrakhola Bazar.

Transportation

• River way:
• Roads & Highway: