Bandar Upazila HQ (Narayanganj)

 township, fourth-level administrative division, local government

Bandar Upazila (Narayanganj district) with an area of 55.84 sq km, is five miles away from Narayanganj sadar upazila. It is bounded by Sonargaon upazila on the north, Munshiganj sadar upazila on the south, Sonargaon on the east and Narayanganj sadar and river Shitalakshya on the west.

The location of Bandar town is 23.6073819N 90.5184633E. Bandar (Town) is in the Kalagachhia union. It has an area of 10.37 sq km. It has a population of 74465; male 54.13%, female 45.87%.

Bandar thana, now an upazila, was established in 1964. It consists of 9 union, 105 mouzas and 183 villages.

Archaeological heritage and relics: Bandar shahi mosque (1481 AD), Baba Saleh Mosque and tomb (1504 AD), Nabiganj Kadam Rasul Shrine (1580), Dewanbagh Mosque, Sonakanda Fort and Mosque.

History and heritage: Bandar was a scene of battles between the advancing Mughals and the defending Pathan 'bhati' rulers musa khan, Abdullah Khan and Daud khan karrani and others. Later Mughals fought many battles for the defense of Dhaka and Narayanganj against the invasion of Mogh and Portuguese pirates coming along rivers from the south and south east.

As of the 1991 Bangladesh census, Population 212572; male 52.47%, female 47.53%; Muslim 95.49%, Hindu 4.47%, others 0.04%

Religious institutions Mosque 212, temple 10, sacred place 2, tomb 5.

Literacy and educational institutions: Average literacy 44.1%; male 51.2%, female 36.2%. Educational institutions: college 3, government primary school 62, non-government primary school 11, high school 14, madrasa 13. The important institutions are Bandar B M Union High School (1900), Ibrahim Alam Chan High School (1947).

Main occupations Agriculture 4%, agricultural labourer 7.09%, wage labourer 4.04%, industries 4.91%, commerce 19.7%, transport 4.48%, construction 1.85%, service 34.27%, others 19.66%.

Land use Total cultivable land 1774.99 hectares, fallow land 3808.98 hectares; single crop 18.94%, double crop 61.44% and treble crop 19.62%. Cultivable land under irrigation 1887.49 hectares.

Land control: Among the peasants 25% are landless, 38% small, 31% medium and 6% rich.

Dairies, fisheries and poultries Dairy 6, fishery 4, poultry 22.

Communications facilities Roads: pucca 85 km, semi pucca 10 km and mud road 105 km; waterways 35 km.

Manufactures: Bandar is economically characterised by Baoa Jute Mill (the first Pakistani jute mill, etd.1951), Sonakanda Dockyard, Ahmed Jutex Mill, Bangladesh Textile Mill, Haripur Electricity Supply Centre, Haripur floating electricity generation centre, Star Particle Board Mill, Vegetable Oil Mill, Sonali News Print Mill, Intercon Fabrics, etc.

Cottage industries: Weaving 25, carpenter 25, bamboo and cane works 7, blacksmith 12, potter 13.

NGO activities: asa, brac, proshika, SIDA, Seba Parisad.

Health centre: Upazila health complex 1, satellite clinic and family planning centre 4.