Mongla Upazila HQ

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

Mongla Upazila (Bagerhat district) with an area of 1461.22 sq km, is bounded by Rampal upazila on the north, the bay of Bengal on the south, Morrelganj and Sarankhola upazilas on the east, Dacope upazila on the west. Main rivers are Pasur and Mongla.

The name Mongla originated from Mongla River presently known as Mongla Nulla. Mongla River originated from Pussur and Rampal is situated beside Pussur.

The geographic location of Mongla town is 22.4684304N 89.5994925E. Mongla (Town) stands on the river Pashur. It is the second biggest sea-port of the country. It consists of 9 wards and 13 mahallas. Mongla municipality was established in 1991. The area of the town is 17.79 sq km. The town has a population of 60561; male 57.27%, female 42.73%. The density of population is 2943 per sq km. The literacy rate among the town people is 53.6%. The town has one dakbungalow.

Mongla thana was established in 1976 and was turned into an upazila in 1983. It consists of 1 municipality 7 union parishads, 37 mouzas and 77 village.

As of the 1991 Bangladesh census, Population 137947; male 54.73%, female 45.27%; Muslim 71.31%, Hindu 24.95% and others 3.74%.

Religious institutions Mosque 84, temple 29, tomb 2 and church 11.

Literacy and educational institutions Average literacy 42.80%; male 49.6%, female 34.2%. Educational institutions: college 3, high school 20, junior school 1, government primary school 32, non-government primary school 29, satellite school 5 and madrasa 18, most noted of which is St Pauls High School.

Main occupations: Agriculture 21.41%, fishing 6.23%, agricultural labourer 12.41%, wage labourer 13.39%, commerce 15.09%, transport 1.94%, service 16.27%, others 13.26%.

Land use: Cultivable land 12565.76 hectares, fallow land 611.79 hectares; single crop 99.03%, double crop 0.86% and treble crop land 0.11%.

Fisheries, dairies and poultries Fishery (shrimp) 760, poultry 60 and frozen fish processing 1.

Communication facilities- Roads: pucca 17.50 km, semi pucca 23.50 km and mud road 211 km; waterways 70 nautical mile.

Manufactories: Cement factories 2 and LP gas 1,

Cottage industries: Ice factory 10, rice mill 6, blacksmith 15 and wood work 100.

Main exports Fish.

NGO activities: brac, asa, caritas and World Vision.

Health centres: Upazila health complex 1, family planning centre 6 and private hospital 3.

Mongla Port: It was formerly located at Chalna, about 11 miles (18 km) upstream on the Pusur River, but it is now located 48 km south of Khulna city, as established on 11 December 1954. The Port is surrounded as well as well protected by the Sundarban mangrove forest. The anchorage was shifted to Mongla in 1954 as the place could accommodate sea-going vessels with greater draughts. The port is situated at the confluence of the Pashur River and the Mongla River. It lies about 62 miles (100 km) north of the Bay of Bengal and is connected to the major inland river ports and to the rail terminal at Khulna. It is very near to Sundarbans. Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) and Haldia in India and Mongla and Chittagong in Bangladesh are the principal seaports on the world's largest Ganges delta.The port has trade links with almost all major ports of the world, although vessels arriving here are mostly from ports of Asia, the Middle East, Australia, Europe and North America and the ships rarely come to Mongla from the countries of Latin America or Africa.

The port is open for 24 hours and up to 225 metre long ships can enter into the port for discharging cargo. A constraint free large channel is available for anchorage and loading/unloading facilities on both sides for 33 ships at a time. The port's chief exports include jute, leather, tobacco, frozen fish, and shrimp; major imports include grain, cement, fertilizer, coal, and wood pulp. Its population as of 2001 was 56,746.