Brahmanbaria District, which was included in Comilla district (formerly Tipura district) was established in 1984. The district has 4 municipalities, 39 wards, 97 mahallas, 9 upazilas, 98 union parishads, 1081 moussakas and 1329 villages.
According to the 2011 Bangladesh census, Brahmanbaria District had 538,937 households and a population of 2,840,498.[1]
Subdivisions
Brahmanbaria district is divided into nine Subdivisions (previously known as Thanas or only one Towns) as below:
Ashuganj Port, on Meghna River will be largest port by 2030.
Brahmanbaria is one of the fastest growing districts in the country. The major industries of Brahmanbaria District have been: agriculture, fishing, power, and natural gas.
This city has the largest railway junction in the country which is Akhaura.[5]
Power and gas
Power plant
Brahmanbaria's Titas gas is important to Bangladesh. Currently the government is drilling new wells.[6]
In some other parts of Brahmanbaria, gas was found. It resulted in an abrupt fall in the price of gas.[7] Many parts of the country people are using gas in many illegal ways. Now the government is trying to solve that issue.[8]
Rail
Largest railway junction in Bangladesh.
There are about ten railway stations in the district. The country of India decided to use this district to connect power. The government shipped machines of the Palatana project from Kolkata to Agartala by using the Ashuganj river port on Meghna in Brahmanbaria district.[9] To connect with India, government of both Bangladesh and India is building 15 km railway from Akhaura to Agartala.[10]
Criticism
In 2015 the District of Brahmanbaria, like the rest of Bangladesh, faced problems of road blocks due to political agitation.[11] It became a terrible problem for regional connectivity as it brought a halt to the road and rail transportation. Luckily the situation did not last very long before being resolved. This region also faced with clashing between two groups. In 2015 a man was killed for facing problems between two groups.[12] Former Chief Justice of Bangladesh, Surendra Kumar Sinha had said while he was delivering his speech in Brahmanbaria that smuggling was hurting the national the economy.[13] Gold and dollar are going out of the country, he said.
In April 2020, thousands of people defied COVID 19 lockdown to attend the funeral of a Muslim cleric.[14]
Geography
Brahmanbaria District is mostly farmland. But within the district many cities can be found. The capital and largest city is Brahmanbaria. Akhaura and Ashuganj ranks also in top three. Prime minister of Bangladesh gave permission to use Ashuganj Port.[15] In addition, Akhaura Station will be connected to Agartala.[16]
History
Brahmanbaria city neighbourhood
Brahmanbaria was a part of Samatata Janapada of the ancient Bengal. The first and temporary capital of Isa Khan was at Sarail,[17] located at 10 km north of Brahmanbaria Town. Brahmanbaria was made one of the 3 Sub-divisions of Comilla District by the British rulers in 1790.[18] Brahmanbaria Municipality was established in 1868.It became part of East Pakistan in 1947 which eventually became independent Bangladesh in 1971.
During the Mughal era, Brahmanbaria was famous for producing quality cloth Muslin.[19][20]
During 19th century, Brahmanbaria produced great nationalist leaders like Nawab Syed Shamsul Huda, who became president of All India Muslim League in 1921, and Barrister Abdur Rasul, a front ranking leader of Indian National Congress. When the swadeshi movement began in the wake of the partition of Bengal (1905), Brahmanbaria born revolutionary Ullaskar Datta (Aviram) was convicted for throwing bomb explosion and was deported to the Andamans.
Upon encouragement of Oli Ahad, a pioneer Language Movement leder who hailed from Brahmanbaria, the movement obtained momentum in this district in 1952.[21][22]
During the War of Liberation in 1971, Bir Sreshtha Mohammad Mostafa Kamal faced a heroic death in an encounter with Pakistan Army at Daruin of Akhaura in Brahmanbaria district.[23]
In 2015, a pot of 200-year-old coins was found in District's Akhaura Upazila. There were nearly 500 coins at the Temple of Durga in Mogra Union. The coins contained the image of British Queen Elizabeth-I and were from 1804, 1814 and 1836. Police said the coins were handed over to archaeology department.[24]
^Siddiqi, Mamun (2012). "Comilla District". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
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