Charghat Upazila HQ

 township, subdistrict, fourth-level administrative division, local government

Charghat Upazila (Rajshahi district & division) with an area of 158.32 sq km, is bounded by Puthia and Paba upazilas on the north, Bagha upazila on the south, Bagatipara and Bagha upazilas on the east, Paba upazila, West Bengal (India) and the Ganges on the west. Main rivers: Ganges and Baral.

The location of the Charghat town is 24.2810275N 88.7496185E. Charghat (Town) a municipal town, consists of 9 wards and 20 mahallas. The area of the town is 3.75 sq km. The town has a population of 35484; male 52.26%, female 47.74%. Literacy rate among the town people is 48.3%. The notable town area of the upazila is Sardaha where Bangladesh where Police Academy is located (Neelkuthis were established here during the British period). The town has one dakbungalow.

Charghat thana was turned into an upazila in 1983. It consists of one municipality, five union parishads, 88 mouzas and 126 villages.

As of the 1991 Bangladesh census, Population 133756; male 52.42%, female 47.58%; Muslim 93.75%, Hindu 6.09% and others 0.16%; ethnic nationals: Santal 675 families.

Religious institutions: Mosque 342.

Literacy and educational institutions: Average literacy 26.6%; male 33% and female 19.6%. Educational institutions: cadet college 1, college 9, secondary school 43, madrasa 6, government primary school 44, non-government primary school 27. Noted educational institutions: PTC, Sardaha (1800), Rajshahi Cadet College (1965).

Main occupations: Agriculture 30.45%, agricultural labourer 28.41%, wage labourer 4.53%, commerce 16.16%, service 7.11%, transport 1.94% and others 11.4%.

Land use: Total cultivable land 12266.29 hectares; fallow land 332.66 hectares; single crop 22.59%, double crop 71.06% and treble crop 6.35%; cultivable land under irrigation 30.53%.

Land control: Among the peasants 34% are landless, 20% small, 36% intermediate and 10% rich; cultivable land per head 0.08 hectare.

Fisheries, dairies, poultries Poultry 6.

Communication facilities- Roads: pucca 30 km, semi pucca 7 km and mud road 193 km; Railways 13 km.

Manufactories: Flour mill 26, ice factory 3, welding 6.

Cottage industries: Weaving 430, bamboo work 50, goldsmith 22, blacksmith 60, wood work 90, tailoring 200 and bidi 1.

NGO activities: Operationally important NGOs are brac, asa, grameen bank, thengamara mahila sabuj sangha, Ganaswastha and itcl.

Health centres: Upazila health complex 1, family planning centre 6 and satellite clinic 6.

Notable place: Sardah. Bangladesh Police Academy(former Police Academy, Sardah), is a hundred year old, luminous and prestigious police training institute located here. It is the Alma Mater of police training in Bangladesh and is one of the oldest training institutes in the Indian subcontinent. Major H. Chamney was the founder principal of this historic Police Academy opened in July, 1912. The existing buildings and hutments of the indigo planters, once headquarters of 152 Nilkutis of Rajshahi region, solved the initial accommodation problem. The academy has produced hundreds of officers in the police cadre in undivided India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.