Comilla District


Comilla District, officially known as Cumilla District It is a district of Bangladesh located about 100 kilometres south east of Dhaka.
Comilla is bordered by Brahmanbaria and Narayanganj districts to the north, Noakhali and Feni districts to the south, Tripura of India to the east and Munshiganj and Chandpur districts to the west. Comilla district is located in the south eastern part of Bangladesh.

History

The present Comilla is a district under the Chittagong Division. It was once under ancient Samatata and later became part of the state of Tripura. As far as is known from the ancient archeology found in the region, Gupta emperors ruled the Tripura since the fifth century AD. According to historians, Buddhist Deva dynasty ruled the region from the seventh to the middle of the eighth century. In the ninth century, Comilla came under the control of the kings of Harikela and then ruled by the Chandra dynasty during tenth and mid eleventh century AD. Later on it was ruled by the Mughals and then it came under the rule of East India Company in 1765. In order to facilitate revenue collection, the company hired a district collector in the province in 1769. Comilla then belonged to the province of Dhaka. Comilla was made under the office of the district collector in 1776. The Tripura Collector's journey began with the formation of Tippera or Tipperah district of Bengal by the British in 1790. According to the Third Regulation in 1793, a civil judge was appointed for the Tripura district and in that year he was given magisterial powers. In 1837, the posts of magistrate and collector were separated. In 1859, these two posts were merged again. After the partition in 1947, the district was renamed Comilla in 1960 and the post of district magistrate and collector was named deputy commissioner. Chandpur and Brahmanbaria sub-divisions of this district were transformed into districts in 1984.

Geography and climate

Comilla has a total area of 3085.17 square kilometres. It is bounded by Burchiganj and Tripura on the north, Laksham and Chauddagram on the south, and Barura on the west. Major rivers passing through Comilla include the Gumti and the Little Feni. It is hot in summer and cold in winter.

Administration

The administrative headquarters of Comilla are located in the city of Comilla which has a total area of 11.47 square kilometres. It consists of 18 mouzas and 3 wards. Comilla thana was officially converted into an upazila in 1983 which contains one municipality 18 wards, 19 union parishads, 452 mouzas and 458 villages.
Administrator of Zila Parishad: M. Omar Faruque
Deputy Commissioner : Md Jahangir Alam

Subdistricts

Comilla district consists of the following Upazilas:
  1. Barura Upazila
  2. Brahmanpara Upazila
  3. Burichong Upazila
  4. Comilla Sadar Upazila
  5. Comilla Sadar Dakshin Upazila
  6. Chandina Upazila
  7. Chauddagram Upazila
  8. Daudkandi Upazila
  9. Debidwar Upazila
  10. Homna Upazila
  11. Laksam Upazila
  12. Lalmai Upazila
  13. Monohorgonj Upazila
  14. Meghna Upazila
  15. Muradnagar Upazila
  16. Nangalkot Upazila
  17. Titas Upazila

    Economy

Mainly based on agriculture, the economy of Comilla has flourished through trade and cottage industries, especially the 'Khadi' textile. For the economic development of the region the "Bangladesh Export Processing Zone Authority" has established the "Comilla Export Processing Zone" spread over an area of in the Comilla Airport area in 2000. The export zone employs 20 thousand people as of 2013.

Places of interest

Important landmarks include Kotbari, a cantonment, or military installation and Kandirpar, considered the heart of the Comilla district. Ancient Buddhist monastery ruins are the major attraction of Mainamati, near Kotbari. There is an ancient Hindu Temple named Comilla Jagannath Temple located on East Bibirbazar Road.
There is a Second World War cemetery, Mainamati War Cemetery, located about away from Comilla Cantonment, which was a frontier military base in the fight against the Japanese who had occupied Burma. British Army soldiers killed during the fight with the Japanese Army at the Burma frontier were buried here. Pashchimgaon Nawab Bari, the place of only lady Jaminder Nawab Faizunnesa, a poet, educationist and a philanthropist.
Kazi Nazrul Islam, the national poet of Bangladesh, passed a significant time of his life in this town. Both his wives, Promila Devi and Nargis, hailed from this district.
Comilla Victoria College and Comilla Zilla School are two old and renowned college and school in the country. Comilla Zilla School was established in the year of 1837. Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development is situated in Kotbari. The area also saw the development of Comilla Model.

Education

The following personalities were either born or stayed in this district for a significant span of their lifetime: