Thursday, February 17, 2011

Dhaka

Dhaka is the capital and the principal largest city of Bangladesh. Dhaka is a mega city and one of the major cities of South Asia. Located on the banks of the Buriganga River, Dhaka, along with its metropolitan area, has a population of over 12 million, making it the largest city in Bangladesh. Dhaka is known the world over as the city of mosques and muslin. Dhaka is also known as the Rickshaw Capital of the World. Approximately 400,000 cycle rickshaws run each day. Today it serves as one of the prime centers for culture, education and
business in the region.

  In the 17th century under Mughal rule, Dhaka was known as Jahangir Nagar. The city was provincial capital and a center of the worldwide muslin trade. Under British rule in the 19th century, this modern city was developed chiefly and became the second largest city in Bengal after Calcutta (present Kolkata). In 1905 after the Partition of Bengal, Dhaka became the capital of the new province of Eastern Bengal and Assam but lost its status as a provincial capital again after the partition was annulled in 1911. Again 1947 after the partition of India, Dhaka became the administrative capital of East Pakistan (present Bangladesh) and later in 1971, the capital of an independent Bangladesh.

                              Dhaka is the main center of political, historical, cultural and economic life in Bangladesh. Dhaka suffers from some terrible problem such as lack of adequate services, congestion, crime, load shedding and pollution due to the rising population. Dhaka has seen modernization of transport, communications and public works in recent decades. The city is attracting large foreign investments and greater volumes of commerce and trade. It is also experiencing an increasing influx of people from across the nation; this has made Dhaka the fastest growing city in the world.

                     Dhaka consists of eight principal thanas –Lalbagh, Kotwali, Sutrapur, Ramna, Motijheel, Paltan, Dhanmondi, Mohammadpur, Tejgaon – and 16 auxiliary thanas – Gulshan, Mirpur, Pallabi, Shah Ali, Turaag, Sabujbagh, Dhaka Cantonment, Demra, Hazaribagh, Shyampur, Badda, Kafrul, Kamrangir char, Khilgaon and Uttara. In total the city has 130 wards and 725 mohallas. Dhaka district has an area of 1463.60 square kilometers (565 sq mi); and is bounded by the districts of Gazipur, Tangail, Munshiganj, Rajbari, Narayanganj, and Manikganj. Tropical vegetation and moist soils characterize the land, which is flat and close to sea level. This leaves Dhaka susceptible to flooding during the monsoon seasons owing to heavy rainfall and cyclones.
                                  
                            Dhaka experiences three kinds of climate, such as hot, wet and humid tropical climate. Another classification (Koppen climate classification), Dhaka has a, dry and tropical wet climate. But the winter months, from November to March, are however, most likeable, cool and pleasant. In summer, highest temperature in Dhaka, Max.36.7 degree and min.21.1 degree. Again in winter, highest temperature in the city, Max.31.7 degree and min 10.5 degree. Annually rainfall in the city 2540 mm.

              Dhaka has a huge attraction places because of its historical past, such as-the Seven Domed Mosque (17th century), Star Mosque (18th century), Baitul Mukarram (National Mosque), Chawkbazar Mosque, Huseni Dalan Mosque, Dhakeshwari Temple (11th Century), Ramkrishna Mission, Armenian Church (1781 A.D.) St. Mary's Cathedral at Ramna, Church of Bangladesh or former Holy Rosary Church (1677A.D.) at Tejgaon, National Memorial at Savar, Lalbagh Fort(1678 A.D.), 1857 Memorial (present Bahadur Shah Park), Bangabandhu Memorial Museum, Mukti Juddha Museum, Ahsan Manzil Museum, Curzon Hall, Old High Court Building, Dhaka Zoo, National Museum, Botanical Garden, National Park, Central Shahid Minar, National Poet's Graveyard, Suhrawardy Uddyan (Garden), Mausoleum of National Leaders, Baldha Garden, Ramna Green Garden, Parliament House, Science Museum, Institute of Arts and Crafts, Sonargaon, The Supreme Court of Bangladesh etc.

                   The Dhaka municipality was founded on August 1, 1864 and upgraded to "corporation" status in 1978. The Dhaka City Corporation is a self-governing corporation which runs the affairs of the city. The incorporated area is divided into several wards, which have elected commissioners. The mayor of the city is elected by popular vote every five years. The Dhaka Education Board is responsible for administering all public schools and most private schools with the exception of English-medium schools and madrassahs. All madrassahs in Bangladesh are governed by a central board while English-medium schools are under separate educational and governance structures. DMP (The Dhaka Metropolitan Police) was established in 1976 and has 6,000 personnel in 12 police stations. Due to rapid population growth of the city, the force has been raised to 23,000 personnel and the establishment of 33 police stations has been completed and the creation of another 18 police stations is underway.

                                      Dhaka is the heart of Bangladesh and also the commercial heart of Bangladesh. The city has a growing middle class and under class population, driving the market mainly for modern consumer and luxury goods. The city has a large number of workers, like- Rickshaw pullers, Hawkers, Drivers, Construction workers, Garments workers, shop worker etc. The main commercial areas of the city include Motijheel, Gulshan, New Market, and Farmgate, while Tejgaon and Hazaribagh are the major industrial areas. The Dhaka Stock Exchange is based in the city, as are most of the large multinationals including Citigroup, HSBC Bank Bangladesh, JPMorgan Chase, Standard Chartered Bank (Bangladesh), American Express- Bangladesh, KFC(Bangladesh), Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Castrol oil, Telenor, Toyota, Total, British Petroleum, Unilever, Milo, Nestle, BerzerDHL Express, FedEx and British American Tobacco. Microcredit also began here and the offices of the Nobel Prize winning Grameen Bank and BRAC are based in Dhaka. Growth has been especially strong in the finance, banking, manufacturing, telecommunications and services sectors, while tourism, hotels and restaurants continue as important elements in the economy of Dhaka.

                            As the major, capital and most populous city in Bangladesh, Dhaka has an extraordinary cultural life. Annual celebrations are most wanted for people, like- February 21(Language Martyr’s Day), March 26(Independence Day), December 16(Victory Day) and Pohela Boishakh(the 1st day of Bangla new year) falls annually on April 14. These occasions are celebrated all over the city and also the whole country.

                     Dhaka is also credited for the revival of the Jamdani due to the many local saree stores selling and promoting these locally hand-made age old traditional Bengali sarees. Jamdani sarees are the 1st choice of Bengali women, who love to wear sarees. Jamdanis are 100% hand weaved and originate from the Persian and Mughal era. Jamdanis are look so gorgeous. Jamdanis are produced by a traditional high quality cottage industry, which is slowly dying out due to the slow production process. A single total complete medium range Jamdani saree may take as long as 3-4 months to total complete.

                               Rickshaws (cycle rickshaws) and auto rickshaws are the major mode of transport. About 4, 00,000 rickshaws are daily running- which is the largest number for any city in the world. Where, about only 85,000 rickshaws are licensed by the city government. BRTC (Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation)’s are main public bus in Dhaka, which operated by the city of government and also some private companies buses are helpful about it. Scooters, taxi, “green taxi” (locally known as CNG) and city bike are also popular for middle class. Dhaka is connected to the other parts of the country through strong highway and railway links. The Kamalapur Railway Station and Airport Station (Biman Bandar Railway Station) are the main railway stations in Dhaka. Bangladesh Railway also operates a regular train service between Dhaka to Kolkata. Dhaka has domestic air links to Sylhet, Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong, Barisal, Jessore, Saidpur and international air links to major cities around the world. The Shahjalal International Airport (before Zia International Airport) is the main airport of Dhaka and also the main airport of Bangladesh.

 Dhaka has a huge number of schools, colleges, universities and madrasas of any Bangladeshi city. The Bangabandhu Medical College, Sir Salimullah Medical College and Dhaka Medical College are the most respected medical college in the nation. The Dhaka University, Jahangirnagar University and Jagannath University are the most respected university in the nation.

Dhaka has also many sports’s stadium, such as: Bangabandhu National Stadium, Sher-e-Bangla Mirpur Stadium, Dhanmondi Cricket Stadium, Komolapur Stadium etc. It has six ICC World Cup 2011's match and the opening ceremony at Bangabandhu National Satdium.

It is true that Dhaka is a wonderful and one of the mega cities of South Asia.

If you want to know more about Dhaka, Please visit: Dhaka Government web portal.

6 comments:

  1. This is a very informational website for all and this is a huge content about Dhaka and also it is very helpful for all.

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  2. Thank You for your hard work.Hopefully it is a very good services web portal for all.

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  3. Hopefully one day, Dhaka will be really a wonderful and one of the mega cities of South Asia.

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  4. Now Dhaka is an over populated country in Bangladesh.Every year a large number of people come here for living and working.

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  5. Really this is a mega city but unfortunately it has too many problems like other mega cities.

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  6. Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh. In Dhaka there are many historical place.

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