Friday, March 4, 2011

Barisal

Barisal city is the headquarters of Barisal division in southern Bangladesh. It is one of the seven administrative divisions of Bangladesh. Barisal is located in south-central Bangladesh, with an area of 13295.59 square km. It has a population of 77, 58, and 367. It is bounded by Chittagong division on the east, Khulna division on the west, Dhaka division on the north and the Bay of Bengal on the south. The Padma (Ganges) river and the Arial Khan (Kirtonkhola) river is one of the parts of the Barisal city. Due to its location and easy access to both
riverside, it has become a transshipment centre of rice, jute, crops and pulses. The maximum annual average temperature is 35.2°C, minimum 11.9°C; annual rainfall is 1955 mm. In 1797 the area was established as Bakerganj District but later renamed as Barisal district. The district was upgraded into a municipality in 1876. On January 1993, Barisal district along with some other neighboring districts together was declared Barisal division.

The city has a population of 2, 76, and 984. Most of the people are Muslims (91.62%), and other religious groups include Hindus (7.36%), Buddhists and Christians (1.02%). The people of the Barisal division are very friendly. The Barisali language is the main language spoken in the city as well as throughout the division, and is considered as a dialect of Bengali, which does not contain a written form, where in this case Bengali is written, and sometimes spoken. The population growth rate of the city is 1.41% and the literacy rate of 72.44%. Barisal division has one of the highest literacy rates of the country.

Barisal division has some famous educational institutes. Some famous institutions are Barisal University, Patuakhali Science and Technology University, Sher-e-Bangla Medical College, Brojomohun College, Bhandaria Government College, Sayed Hatem Ali Government College, Barisal Polytechnic Institute, Barguna Polytechnic Institute, Patuakhali Polytechnic Institute and Barisal Cadet College etc. Brojomohun College is one of the Bangladesh’s oldest educational institutions, it was established in 1889. Besides these institutes, Barisal has also many educational institutes. It has thirteen government colleges, eighteen private colleges, nineteen government high schools, 852 government high schools, 180 junior high schools, 3 law colleges, 4 teacher's training college, 1627 madrashas, 2,583 government primary schools and 1,993 non-government primary schools.

The main transport system in the Barisal city is steamers, buses, mini buses, cars and rickshaws. Barisal is well connected by highways and waterways links to Dhaka and Chittagong, as well as other parts of Barisal and the whole country. Barisal has also an airport. It is located just outside of the city. The name of the airport is “Barisal Airport”. River is also a popular transport system in the Barisal. The luxurious launch journey connects between the south and Dhaka city. The launches are really royal, majestic and with pomp and pleasure. This is very enjoyable journey for all.

Barisal city is administrated by Barisal City Corporation. It consists of 30 wards and 50 mahallas. The area of the town is 19.99 square kilometers. The Barisal City Corporation is a self-governing corporation which runs the affairs of the city. The mayor of the city is elected by popular vote every five years. The Barisal municipality was founded on 1957 and upgraded to "corporation" status in 2002. But the Barisal division consists of 38 upazilas, 353 union parishads, 3159 mouzas and 4163 villages.

Economical environment in the Barisal is normal. Barisal’s economic is based on farming and fishing. Early Barisal was known as "Crop house of Bengal" for her rich rice production and it is still an important rice producing area of the country. It is also a producing area of jute, pulses and many crops. But now a day, many people are interested about fishing and they earn their livelihood by fishing. Several people are also working as foreign workers in the Middle East countries. Tourism is one of the key of the Barisal economy.

Barisal has many luxury shopping malls in the city and it has also a city corporation market in the division. Kuakata sea beach is the main tourist spot in the division. Many people and foreign tourists are visiting this spot. It is one of the popular places in the Bangladesh and all over the world because, it is the one of the two sea beaches in South Asia where both sunrise and sunset at sea can be seen. Durga Sagor is another beautiful and tourist spot in the Barisal. It is a dighi where lot of guest birds comes in every winter season. It is very enjoyable spot for all.

The most popular sports in the Barisal are Cricket and Football. These sports are also popular throughout the Bangladesh. But unfortunately Barisal has no any international cricket or football stadium. Ha-du-du (Kabaddi) and dariabandha is also popular sports in this area. Chess and Carom are other popular sports in the Barisal.

Some famous person associated with Barisal include: A.K. Fazlul Haque-{ Mayor of kolkata (First Muslim mayor of kolkata), Prime Minister of undivided Bengal and of East Bengal, Home Minister of Pakistan and Governor of East Pakistan}, Utpal Dutt (1929 – 1993)- {was an Indian actor, director and writer-playwright}, Mohiuddin Jahangir- Freedom fighter (Bir Shreshto) and was a Captain in the Bangladesh Army during the Liberation war in 1971, Mithun Chakraborty- Famous actor, Jibanananda Das- Famous Bengali poet, Sufia Kamal- Famous Bengali poetess, Aroj Ali Matubbar- Philosopher and Astronomer, Sushmita Sen- famous actress, Kamini Roy-  First woman graduate with honours in the subcontinent and famous poetess, Kusumkumari Das- Mother of Jibanananda Das and poetess, Abala Bosu- wife of Jagadish Chandra Bosu and social reformer, Brojomohun Dutta, Pannalal Ghosh- Famous musician and flutist, Parul Ghosh- Bengali and Hindi film singer, Kadambini Ganguly- first female graduate and first female physician in the entire British empire, Aswini Kumar Dutta- social reformer and philanthropist, Abdul Gaffar Choudhury- Journalist and writter of “Amar Bhaier Rokte Rangano” to mark the Bengali Language Movement,
Shamsuddin Abul Kalam- Bangladeshi novelist etc.

Due to lots of beneficial side, Barisal is well known all over the Bangladesh and also the whole world. It is one of the major divisions of Bangladesh.

If you want to know more about Barisal, please visit: Barisal Government Web Portal.

2 comments:

  1. Your writing is very beautiful and informative. I like this very much.

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  2. I hope this is one of the favorite article of Barisalies. It is also very helpful for all kinds of people. Keep up your good work.

    ReplyDelete