Sitakunda Upazila
Encyclopedia
Sitakunda is an upazila, or administrative unit, in the Chittagong District
of Bangladesh
. It includes one urban settlement, the Sitakunda Town
, and 10 unions, the lowest of administrative units
in Bangladesh. It is one of the 14 upazilas, the second tier of administrative units, of the Chittagong District, which also includes 12 thana
s, the urban equivalent of upazilas. The district is part of the Chittagong Division, the highest order of administrative units in Bangladesh. Sitakunda is the home of the country's first eco-park, as well as alternative energy
projects, specifically wind energy
and geothermal power
.
Sitakunda is one of the oldest sites of human habitation in Bangladesh. During much of its history, it was ruled alternatively by various Buddhist rulers of Myanmar
in the east and Muslims rulers of Bengal
in the west. For a brief period in the 8th century, it was ruled by the Buddhist Pala Empire
of India
. The eastern rulers originated from the Kingdom of Arakan
, the Mrauk U
dynasty, Arakanese
pirates and the Pagan Kingdom
. The western rulers came from the Sultanate of Bengal
and the Mughal
state of Suba Bangala
. European rule of Sitakunda was heralded by Portuguese
privateers in 16th and 17th centuries, who ruled together with the pirates; and the British Raj
in 18th and 19th centuries, who unified Sitakunda into the rest of the Chittagong District.
Economic development in Sitakunda is largely driven by the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway
and the railway. Though Sitakunda is predominantly an agricultural
area, it also has the largest ship breaking
industry in the world. The industry has been accused of neglecting workers' rights, especially concerning work safety practices and child labor
. It has also been accused of harming the environment, particularly by causing soil contamination
. Sitakunda's ecosystems are further threatened by deforestation, over-fishing, and groundwater contamination. The upazila is also susceptible to natural hazards such as earthquake
s, cyclone
s, and storm surge
s. It lies on one of the most active seismic faults in Bangladesh, the Sitakunda–Teknaf fault.
Sitakunda is renowned for its numerous Islamic, Hindu
and Buddhist shrines. It has 280 mosque
s, 8 mazar
s, 49 Hindu temples, 4 ashram
s, and 3 Buddhist temples. Among its notable religious sites are the Chandranath Temple
(a Shakti Peetha or holy pilgrimage site), Vidarshanaram Vihara (founded by the scholar Prajnalok Mahasthavir
), and the Hammadyar Mosque (founded by Sultan
Ghiyasuddin Mahmud Shah
). The attraction of Sitakunda as a tourist destination is elevated by these pilgrimage sites along with the hill range and the eco-park. Despite its diverse population, the area has gone through episodes of communal strife
, including attacks on places of worship. There have been reports of activity by the Islamic militant group Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh since the early 2000s.
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The legends of the area state the sage Bhargava
created a pond (kunda) for Sita Devi
to bathe in when her husband Lord Ramchandra visited during his exile in the forests. Sitakunda derived its name from this incident.
Sitakunda has been occupied by humans since the Neolithic
era; tools associated with the prehistoric Assam group
have been found throughout the area. In 1886, shouldered celts
manufactured from petrified wood
were discovered, as reported by Indian archaeologist Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay
in his book Banglar Itihas, or History of Bengal, (volume I, 1914). In 1917, British mineralogist Dr. J. Coggin Brown uncovered more prehistoric celts. Large quantities of pebbles have also been found, but archaeologists have not determined whether they were used in the construction of prehistoric tools.
During the 6th and 7th centuries CE
, the Chittagong region was ruled by the Kingdom of Arakan
. In the next century, it was briefly ruled by Dharmapala
(reign: 770–810) of the Pala Empire
. The area was conquered in 1340 by Sultan Fakhruddin Mubarak Shah
(reign: 1338–1349) of Sonargaon
, who founded the first dynasty of the Sultanate of Bengal. When Sultan Ghiyasuddin Mahmud Shah
(reign: 1533–1538) of the last dynasty of the Sultanate of Bengal was defeated in 1538 by Sher Shah Suri
of the Sur Dynasty
, the Arakanese captured the region again. Batsauphyu (reign: 1459–1482) of the Mrauk U
dynasty took advantage of the weakness of Sultan Barbak Shah of Bengal to lead the invasion. In this period, Keyakchu (or Chandrajyoti), a prince of Arakan, established a monastery in Sitakunda. Between 1538 and 1666, Portuguese
privateers (known as Firinghis or Harmads) made inroads into Chittagong and ruled the region in alliance with Arakanese
pirates. During those 128 years, the eastern coast of Bengal became a home to pirates of Portuguese and Arakanese origins. For a brief period in 1550, it was taken over by Pagan
invaders. In 1666, Mughal commander Bujurg Umed Khan conquered the area.
Along with the rest of Bengal
, Sitakunda came under the rule of the British East India Company
after the company's defeat of the Nawab of Bengal
at the Battle of Plassey
in 1757. Rapid growth in the Bengali
population since then resulted in an exodus of non-Bengali people from Sitakunda and its vicinity to the Chittagong Hill Tracts
. During the Ardhodaya Yog movement, a part of the Swadeshi Indian independence movement
, the governance of Sitakunda was briefly in the hands of Indian nationalists when, in February 1908, they took over the central government in Kolkata
. In 1910, Indian Petroleum Prospecting Company drilled here for hydrocarbon exploration, the first such activity in East Bengal
. In 1914, the first onshore wildcat well in Bangladesh was drilled at Sitakunda anticline to a depth of 762 metres (2,500 ft). By 1914, however, all four of the wells drilled had proven to be failures.
After the Indian Rebellion of 1857
, the British colonial government
(British Raj) replaced the governance of the East India Company
. When the British withdrew in 1947, after creating the independent states of India and Pakistan
, Sitakunda became a part of East Pakistan
. The potential for a ship breaking
industry first appeared in 1964 when Chittagong Steel House started scrapping MD Alpince, a 20000 metric tons (19,684 LT) Greek ship that had been accidentally beached near Fouzdarhat by a tidal bore
four years earlier. During the Bangladesh Liberation War
of 1971, Sitakunda was part of Sector 1, led by Ziaur Rahman
and Major Rafiqul Islam of the Mukti Bahini
, the forces fighting for the independence of Bangladesh. The ship breaking industry began in earnest in 1974 when Karnafully Metal Works started scrapping Al Abbas, a Pakistani ship damaged in 1971, and flourished in the 1980s. As of 2007, Sitakunda had overtaken the ship breaking industries of India and Pakistan
to become the largest in the world.
In the early 2000s, Islamic militant organization Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) leader Siddikul Islam (also known as Bangla Bhai
) ran militant training centers in the upazila at which participants learned to make bombs and handle firearms. One of his followers, Mahfuzul Huq, was captured on 21 February 2006.
Sitakunda Upazila occupies an area of 483.97 square kilometres (186.86 sq mi), which includes 61.61 square kilometres (23.79 sq mi) of forest. It is bordered by Mirsharai
to the north, Pahartali
to the south, Fatickchhari
, Hathazari
and Panchlaish
to the east, and the Sandwip Channel in the Bay of Bengal
to the west. The Sitakunda range is a 32 kilometres (20 mi) long ridge in the center of the upazila, which reaches an altitude of 352 metres (1,155 ft) above sea level at Chandranath or Sitakunda peak, the highest peak in Chittagong District. Part of Sitakunda is covered by the low hill ranges, while the rest is in the Bengal flood plain. To the north, Rajbari Tila at 274 metres (899 ft) and Sajidhala at 244 metres (801 ft) are the highest peaks in this range, which drops abruptly to a height of less than 92 metres (302 ft) in the vicinity of Chittagong City to the south. About 5 kilometres (3 mi) north of Sitakunda Town is the Labanakhya saltwater hot spring
, which has been proposed as a source of geothermal energy. There are two waterfalls in the hills: Sahasradhara (thousand streams) and Suptadhara (hidden stream). Both have been identified as sites requiring special attention for protection and preservation by the National Heritage Foundation of Bangladesh
.
An area prone to cyclones and storm surges, Sitakunda was affected by cyclones in 1960, 1963, 1970, 1988, 1991, 1994 and 1997; the cyclones of 29 May 1963, 12 November 1970, 29 April 1991 made landfall
.
The intra-deltaic coastline is very close to the tectonic interface of the Indian and Burmese plate
s, as well as the active Andaman–Nicobar fault system, and is often capable of generating tsunami
s. Cyclone preparedness measures are inadequate for the 200,000 residents of Sitakunda who were estimated to be living in high risk areas after the 1991 cyclone. For every 5,000 people, Sitakunda has only one cyclone shelter, each of which is capable of holding 50 to 60 people. Syedpur Union has eleven, Muradpur eight, Baraiyadhala seven, and Kumira five. Sitakunda municipality, Barabkunda, Bhatiary and Bansbaria have four shelters each. Salimpur has three and Sonaichhari Union has two shelters.
The Chittagong Coastal Forest Department developed the river bars
(char in Bengali) on the bank of the Sonaichhari channel adjacent to the Sitakunda coast into a kilometer-wide coastal mangrove
plantation during 1989–90, to reduce the impact of cyclones. Although the site was initially unstable, rapid sediment accretion stabilised the soil, providing the coast with some protection. The cyclone of 1990 smashed about 25% of a 2 kilometres (1 mi) sea-wall built using two-ton steel-reinforced concrete blocks, some of which were carried up to 100 metres (328 ft) inland. In contrast, a mangrove plantation just south of the sea-wall sustained damage to less than 1% of its trees, most of which recovered within six months. The planted mangrove forest that helped Sitakunda to escape as one the least damaged areas during the devastating 1991 Bangladesh cyclone
is under threat from illegal tree-cutting by ship-breakers in the area.
Annual average temperature is between 32.5 °C (91 °F) and 13.5 °C (56 °F), with an annual rainfall of 2687 millimetres (106 in). Along with Chittagong and Hathazari, in June 2007 Sitakunda was badly affected by mudslides caused by heavy rainfall combined with the recent practice of hill-cutting. The mean annual wind speed recorded in Sitakunda between 1991 and 2001 was 1.8 knots (2 mph), as measured by the wind monitoring station built as part of a wind energy
exploration project jointly run by the Local Government Engineering Department
and the Bangladesh Center for Advanced Studies
. A small 300-watt wind turbine, built by the government, provides electricity to fish farms.
The geological structure
of Sitakunda, 70 kilometres (43 mi) long and 10 kilometres (6 mi) wide, is one of the westernmost structures of Chittagong
and Chittagong Hill Tracts
, delimited by the Feni River
in the north, the Karnaphuli River
in the south, the Halda River
in the east and the Sandwip Channel in the west. The Sitakunda Range acts as a water divide
between the Halda Valley and the Sandwip Channel. The 88 kilometres (55 mi) -long Halda flows from Khagrachari
to the Bay of Bangal, and is one of the six tributaries
of Karnafuli, the major river in the area. Sandwip Channel represents the northern end of the western part of the Chittagong-Tripura Folded Belt
.
The structure contains a thick sedimentary sequence of sandstone, shale and siltstone. The exposed sedimentary rock sequences except limestone, 6500 metres (21,325 ft) thick in an average, provide no difference in overall lithology
of Chittagong and Chittagong Hill Tracts. The Sitakunda fold is an elongated, asymmetrical, box-type double plunging anticline
. Both the gently dipping eastern and steeper western flanks of the anticline are truncated abruptly by the alluvial plain of the Feni River. For a lack of infrastructure in Bangladesh, this anticline is one of the few regularly surveyed structures in the country. The syncline
from Sitakunda separates the eastern end of the Feni Structure
located in the folded flank of the Bengal Foredeep
.
Local experts consider the Sitakunda–Teknaf fault to be one of the two most active seismic faults in Bangladesh. After the earthquake of 2 April 1762, which caused a permanent submergence of 155.4 square kilometres (60 sq mi) of land near Chittagong and the death of 500 people in Dhaka
, two volcanoes are said to have opened in the Sitakunda hills. During a seismic tremor on 7 November 2007, fire broke out at the Bakharabad Gas Systems Limited in the Faujderhat area of the upazila when a pipeline was fractured. The Girujan Clay Formation runs through Sitakunda at a thickness of 168 metres (551 ft). In the Sitakunda hills, the Boka Bil Shale Formation contains Ostrea digitalina, Ostrea gryphoides and numerous plates of Balanus
(a type of Barnacle
s), fragments of Arca, Pecten, Trochus
, Oliva
and coral
s. Both formations were identified and named by early 20th-century British petroleum geologist
P. Evans.
s, 29,853 for unions, 5,060 for mouza
s (revenue villages) and 5,060 for village
s reported by the census. Out of the 69 mauzas here, 8 have less than 50 households, while 27 have more than 600 households. Of the villages, 8 have a population of less than 250, while 29 have more than 2,500. , the population density of Sitakunda was 692 PD/sqkm.
Apart from the Bengali
majority, there are a number of small communities of ethnic minorities in the area. Many of the resident Rakhine people
are believed to have settled here during the Arakanese rule of Chittagong (1459–1666), though the event is not historically traceable. The Rakhine population in Khagrachari District
migrated from the surrounding area and built up their permanent abode at Ramgarh
in the 19th century. Other ethnic groups include the recently migrated Tripuri people. In the District of Chittagong that includes Sitakunda, the population ratio by religion in 2001 was Muslim
83.92%, Hindu
13.76%, Buddhist 2.01% and Christian
0.12%, with 0.19% following other religions. In 1981, it was Muslim 82.79%, Hindu 14.6%, Buddhist 2.23% and Christian
0.21%, with 0.19% following other religions. Chittagonian
, a derivative of Bengali
spoken by 14 million people mainly in the Chittagong district, is the dominant language.
Sitakunda as a thana
came into existence in 1879, and was renamed to Sitakunda Upazila in 1983. It ranks third in area and sixth in population out of the 26 upazilas and thanas of Chittagong. Sitakunda Town, with an area of 28.63 square kilometres (11.05 sq mi) and a population of 36,650, is the administrative center and the sole municipality
(Pourashabha) of Sitakunda Upazila. Shafiul Alam is the mayor of the town, gaining a landslide win over his nearest contender M Abul Kalam Azad in the 2008 mayoral election. The rest of the area is rural
and organized into 10 Union Committees (Union Parishads), namely Banshbaria, Barabkunda, Bariadyala, Bhatiari, Kumira, Muradpur, Salimpur, Sonaichhari, Saidpur and Bhatiari Cantonment Area. The area is divided into 69 mauzas and 59 villages. Along with neighboring towns like Hathazari, Fateyabad
, Patiya and Boalkhali, Sitakunda Town was developed as a satellite town to relieve the increasing population pressure on Chittagong, with Bhatiari and Sadar unions selected as zones for industrialization, like South Halishahar
and Kalurghat
. In the 2009 Upazila elections, Abdullah Al Baker Bhuiyan was elected the Upazila Chairman, while Advocate MN Mustafa Nur and Nazmun Nahar were elected vice chairmen.
Sitakunda Upazila makes the 280th electoral district in Bangladesh, identified as Chittagong-2. In the 2008 general election, of Bangladesh Awami League
(AL) was elected as the member of parliament, defeating his nearest opponent of Bangladesh Nationalist Party
(BNP). In the previous election held in 2001, Siddiki had defeated Kasem. M Akteruzzaman is the Upazila Nirbahi Officer, the chief executive of the upazila. The upazila is served by a court presided over by a first-class magistrate
. The Power Development Board is responsible for supplying electricity to the upazila, but due to power outages the industries in the area are strictly constrained. Anwarul Kabir Talukder, the State Minister for Power, lost his job on 29 September 2006 after hundreds of demonstrators in Sitakunda blocked the Dhaka–Chittagong highway in protest at the lack of electricity; violence also erupted elsewhere in Bangladesh. In case of fire, the services are brought in from the neighboring city of Chittagong. A proposed Kumira–Sitakunda Hill Water Reservoir Project to supply safe drinking water is to be undertaken by the government.
The ship breaking
industry in Sitakunda has surpassed similar industries in India and Pakistan to become the largest in the world. As of August 2007, over 1500000 metric tons (1,476,305 LT) of iron had been produced from the scrapping of about 20 ships in the 19 functional ship yards scattered over 8 square kilometres (3 sq mi) along the coast of Sitakunda 8 – from Chittagong
, near Fouzderhat. Local re-rolling mills, as well as similar mills, process the scrap iron. Bangladesh, with no local metal ore mining industry of its own, is dependent on ship-breaking for its domestic steel requirements; the re-rolling mills alone substitute for import of about 1200000 metric tons (1,181,044 LT) of billets and other raw materials. There are 70 companies registered as ship breakers in Chittagong, employing 2,000 regular and 25,000 semi-skilled and unskilled workers. Organized under the Bangladesh Ship Breakers Association, (BSBA), these include companies within large local conglomerate
s that sought ISO certificate
s.
The industry has come under threat, both from a decline in the number of ships scrapped annually – down from 70–80 to about 20 – and because of environmental and work safety
concerns. There have been complaints that journalists and human rights
activists are being barred from the ship breaking yards. The ship breaking industry is purportedly damaging the local ecology as well, taking a toll on the fish population and soil quality. A survey conducted by students of the Institute of Marine Science of Chittagong University
in 2007 revealed that the soil of the locality is polluted by heavy metals including mercury (0.5 to 2.7 ppm), lead (0.5 to 21.8 ppm), chromium (220 ppm), cadmium (0.3 to 2.9 ppm), iron (2.6 to 5.6 ppm), calcium (5.2 to 23.2 ppm) and magnesium (6.5 to 10.57 ppm). Safety standards in the industry are low; between 1995 and 2005, 150 workers were killed and 576 were maimed
or injured. The main causes of death were fire or explosion, suffocation and inhaling CO2
. These old ships also contain hazardous substances like asbestos, lead paint, heavy metals and PCB
s. The workers are paid US$1.75 a day and have little access to medical treatment. Among the workers, 41% of are aged between 18 and 22 years, and many are reported to be as young as 10 years of age. There have also been allegations of large quantities of steel and non-ferrous items, such as bronze
, aluminum, copper
, and bronze-amalgam
recovered from ship breaking being smuggled out of Bangladesh.
Employment of local people is low in the industrial facilities. The main occupations of the local people by industry are service (28.76%), commerce
(21.53%), and agriculture
(24.12%). Out of 12140.83 hectares (30,000.62 acre) of cultivable land 25.46% yield a single crop, 57.95% yield double and 16.59% a treble crop annually. Bean, melon, rubber and betel
leaf are the main agricultural exports. Fishing has traditionally been an industry restricted to low caste
Hindus belonging to the fisher class, although since the last decades of the 20th century an increasing number of Muslims have joined the sector. Due to the introduction of engine-powered boats and gill nets, there was a rise in fish catches between the 1970s and 1990s, especially in the major fishing season (mid-July to mid-November). Over-fishing, however, has depleted the fish population and some fish species are facing extinction in the area, leading to seasonal food insecurity
(February to April). According to a 2001 survey, 4,000 people in Sitakunda were engaged in wild shrimp fry
collection, harvesting an average of five-and-a-half million fries a year.
Sitakunda has a cement factory, 12 jute
mills, 6 textile mills, 10 re-rolling mills, and 79 functional and defunct shipyards. Two of the operational jute mills are run by the Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation, and one has been sold to a private sector
company. To protest against privatization, workers of Hafiz Jute Mill, Gul Ahmed Jute Mill, MM Jute Mill and RR Jute Mill blocked the Dhaka–Chittagong Highway for seven hours in September 2007. As early as 1953, Sitakunda was described as the location for one of only five poultry farms
in East Pakistan
, along with Tejgaon (Dhaka), Narayanganj
(Dhaka), Jamalpur (Bogra
), and Sylhet
. Some mining for sand from agricultural lands is carried out along the eastern side of the Dhaka–Chittagong road. Operators of local brick kilns are engaged in illegal hill cutting, a practice that was responsible along with heavy rainfall for the 2007 Chittagong mudslide
. The rural poor are supported by Grameen Bank
and NGOs such as CARE
, BRAC
and ASA
.
The Dhaka–Chittagong Highway runs through Sitakunda, connecting the two largest cities in Bangladesh. A workshop conducted by Asian Development Bank
(ADB) estimated that improving the highway would increase Bangladesh's GDP by 1% and its foreign trade by 20%. This roadlink between the two cities existed in the pre-railway days and has been identified as a part of the medieval southern Silk Road
. In 2006, ADB and the World Bank announced a plan to help Bangladesh build a second highway between Dhaka and Chittagong, which would be a part of the Asian Highway Network
.
Historically, the rail transport
ation system drove developments in Chittagong and the surrounding areas, including Sitakunda. The rail tracks were established as part of the Bengal Assam Railway
in 1898, originally running from Chittagong to Badarpur, with branches to Silchar
and Laksam
. In September 1878, Sitakunda was included in the East Bengal Circle of Railway Mail Service (RMS) along with rest of the district. By 1904, the track system was extended to Chandpur
to connect river boat traffic between Goalanda
and Kolkata
. Approximately 37 kilometres (23 mi) of railroads stop at six rail stations. Currently, there is no express train service between Sitakunda and Chittagong, though intercity expresses (Sylhet–Chittagong, Chandpur–Chittagong, and Dhaka–Chittagong) stop at Sitakunda station and carry a small share of the commuter traffic load. By 2003, there were a total of 112 kilometres (70 mi) of paved roads in the upazila, along with 256 kilometres (159 mi) of mud roads, as well as five ferry-gauts
or river docks for the use of barge
-type ferry
boats. The traditional bullock cart
s are now rarely seen in the upazila.
Sitakunda was to be the landing station for a submarine communications cable
, but the cable now comes ashore at Cox's Bazaar. The cable has frequently been severed by miscreants, often in the Sitakunda area, since its installation on 21 May 2006. Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication
(BNNRC) has brought internet services to the upazila by establishing Rural Knowledge Centres (RKC). BTTB and RanksTel
run telephone services in the upazila. The telephone area code for Sitakunda is 3028, which has to be added to Bangladesh area code +880 when making overseas calls, and the subscriber numbers consist of four digits locally.
Sitakunda is a major site for pilgrimage in Bangladesh, as it features 280 mosque
s (including the Shah Mosque) 8 mazar
s (including Baro Awlias Mazar, Kalu Shah Mazar, Fakir Hat Mazar), 49 Hindu temples (including Labanakhya Mandir, Chandranath Mandir, Shambunath Mandir), 3 ashram
s (including
Sitakunda Shankar Math), and 3 Buddhist temples. The Hammadyar Mosque, located at the village of Masjidda on the banks of a tank
known as the Hammadyar Dighi, was built during the reign of Ghiyasuddin Mahmud Shah, the last Husain Shahi sultan of Bengal, as recorded by the inscription above the central entrance. The Sudarshan Vihara at village Mayani here, as well as the Vidarshanaram Vihara at village Mayani in Patiya
were both established in 1922 by Prajnalok Mahasthavir
(1879–1971), an eminent Bangladeshi Buddhist preacher.
According to legend, Shiva
's wife Sati
immolated
herself in the yajna
-fire of her father Daksha
, as a protest against Shiva's dishonor. The God became furious and started to dance the Tāndava
with Sati's body on his shoulders. Knowing that the dance of destruction was about to annihilate the world, Vishnu
cut the body of Sati to pieces with Sudarshana Chakram
, his celestial weapon, thereby appeasing Shiva. Each of 51 pieces of the body fell to earth, and the place where each piece fell became a holy center of pilgrimage or Shakti Peetha. The legend goes that Sati's right arm fell near a now-extinct hot spring at the Chandranth peak in Sitakunda. The site is marked by the temple of Sambhunath just below the Chandranath temple on top of the peak, and it is a major tirtha
for Hindus in Bangladesh.
According to Rajmala
, the temple of Chandranath received considerable endowments from the Twipra Kingdom
in the time of king Dhanya Manikya, who once attempted to remove the lingam
from the temple to his kingdom. Poets from across the ages – from Jayadeva
(circa 1200 AD) to Nabinchandra Sen (1847–1909) – were said to be devoted to the temple. Chandranath is within the jurisdiction of Gobardhan Math, which was founded, according to legends, by Padmacharya, a disciple of Shankaracharya
and founder of Vana and Aranya sects of the Dashanami Sampradaya
. An International Vedic Conference was held from 15 February to 17 February 2007 at Sitakunda Shrine (Tirtha) Estate in Sitakunda Chandranath Dham, on the occasion of the great Shiva Chaturdarshi (a Hindu festival in worship of Lord Shiva). These temples have been subject to repeated attack and violation by Muslims, and Bangladeah Hindu Bouddha Christian Oikya Parishad (Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Solidiarity Association) has asked for the pilgrims to be protected.
While returning to Kolkata
after completing a floral survey, Joseph Dalton Hooker
(1817–1911) carried out the first survey of Sitakunda's local flora, as recorded in his Himalayan Journals, in January 1851 (published by the Calcutta Trigonometrical Survey
Office and Minerva Library of Famous Books; Ward, Lock, Bowden & Co., 1891).
The forests of the region are known to be evergreen type with a preponderance of deciduous species with a levelled distribution. The topmost level consists of Garjan (Dipterocarpus alatus
), Telsur (Hopea odorata
), Chapalish (Artocarpus chaplasha
), Chundul (Tetrameles nudiflora
) and Koroi or the Moluccan albizia (Albizia falcataria). The lower level consists of species of Jarul (Lagerstroemia speciosa
), Toon (Toona ciliata
), Jam (Syzygium cumini), Jalpai (Elaeocarpus robustus
) and Glochidion. Liana
s, epiphytes (mostly of orchids, asclepiads, ferns and leafy mosses) and herbaceous undergrowths are abundant. Savannah formations are found in the open, along the banks of rivers and swamps with common tall grasses like Kans (Saccharum spontaneum), Shon (Imperata cylindrica and I. arundincca) and Bena (Vetiveria zizanoides). Several species of Bamboo are cultivated that are common in Bangladesh including Bambusa balcooa
(which is also common in Assam
), B. vulgaris
, B. longispiculata
, B. tulda
and B. nutans
; the latter two also being common in the hills of the region.
A number of fish species have become endangered in the area due to overfishing
. They include Bhoal (Raiamas bola
), Lakkhya (Eleutheronema tetradactylum
), Chapila (Gudusia chapra
), Datina (Acanthopagrus latus), Rupchanda (Pampus argenteus), Pungash (Pangasius pangasius
), Chhuri (Trichiurus lepturus), Ilsha Chandana (Tenualosa toli
), Hilsha (Tenualosa ilisha), Faishya (Anchoviella commersonii
), Maittya (Scomberomorus commerson), Gnhora (Labeo gonius), Kata (Nemapteryx nenga), Chewa (Taenioides cirratus
), Sundari bele (Glossogobius giuris
), Bnata (Liza parsia
), Koral (Etroplus suratensis
) and Kawoon (Anabas testudineus), as well as crustacean
s like tiger shrimps.
The first eco-park in Bangladesh, along with a botanical garden
, was established in 2001 under a five-year (2000–2004) development project at a cost of on 808 hectares (1,997 acre) of the Chandranath Hills in Sitakunda. The eco-park was established to facilitate biodiversity
conservation, natural regeneration, new plantations and infrastructure development, as well as to promote nature-based tourism to generate income. The park, 405 hectares (1,001 acre), and the garden, 403 hectares (996 acre), under the Bariadhala Range of Chittagong Forest Division, are rich with natural Gymnosperm
tree species including Podocarpus neriifolius
and species of Gnetum
and Cycas
. The park is reported to be able to receive 25,000 visitors in a single weekend. With the botanical garden included, the number of visitors can reach up to 50,000. According to the International Journal of Biodiversity Science and Management, however, "ignoring the dependence of local people on park resources created conflicts between local communities and the park authority" and "prohibition on the extraction of forest products from the park... make the livelihoods of surrounding villagers vulnerable".
(founded in 1958), 4 regular colleges (including Sitakunda Degree College founded in 1968), 24 high schools (including Sitakunda Government High School founded in 1913), 10 madrasas, and 76 junior and primary schools. All the secondary schools and regular colleges are under the Chittagong Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education split from the Comilla Board in May, 1995. Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah
(1885–1969), an eminent Bangladeshi linguist, served as the headmaster of the Government High School from 1914 to 1915. On 24 July 1996, members of Bangladesh Chhatra League
and Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir
(ICS) in Sitakunda Degree College fought with guns and bombs over a minor dispute. On 29 July 1996, two ICS members of the college were abducted and killed. Faujdarhat Cadet College
and Bangladesh Military Academy
are also situated in this upazila. , average literacy of Sitakunda Upazila for people of 7 years of age or more is 54.6%, while the average literacy of Sitakunda Pourashabha is 53.9%. There has been an overall growth of 32.9% between 1991 and 2001, which for men was 20.5% and for women 59.2%. 70,315 people of the Upazila between the ages of 5 and 24 years attend schools, an overall increase of 35.6% between 1991 and 2001, which for men was 28.1% and for women 45.4%. The highest school attendance rate is observed in age group 10–14 years.
The health service centers in the upazila include a health complex, an infectious diseases hospital, a railway TB hospital
, 11 family planning centres and a veterinary treatment centre. Bangladesh Railway
set up the hospital at Kumira in 1952 with a capacity of 150 beds. The capacity was reduced to 50 beds in 1994 as some focus was redirected to the hospital Central Railway Building in Chittagong. Originally built to treat railway employees, the hospital now also treats people from the wider community. Malaria
, dengue and other fevers, hepatitis
, as well as respiratory infections including tuberculosis
are some of the major health threats. The percentage of disabled in Sitakunda is reported to be the highest in Bangladesh, at 17% compared to the national average of 13%.
Banshbaria Union has been declared as 100% sanitized, as all households in the union adopted sanitary latrines, while the upazila has only 16% sanitation coverage. A survey published in 2006 by the Bangladesh Arsenic Mitigation Water Supply Project found that of the 18,843 tube well
s surveyed, 24.7% were found to be contaminated
. Visible signs of arsenic poisoning
were found in 47 people.
National newspapers published in Dhaka including Prothom Alo
, Ajker Kagoj
, Janakantha
and The Daily Ittefaq are available in Sitakunda, as well as regional newspapers published in Chittagong Azadi and Purbakon. It also has its own local newspapers and a journalist community. In 2003, Atahar Siddik Khasru, the president of the local Press Club, went missing on 30 April and was rescued on 21 May. He was abducted and tortured by unidentified men allegedly on charges of protesting against the harassment of Mahmudul Haq, editor of local magazine Upanagar. On 6 May, about 30 local journalists working for national and local press took to the streets in protest. The other weekly newspaper is Chaloman Sitakunda. Television channels available in the upazila include satellite television
channels like Channel i
, ATN Bangla
, Channel One
, NTV
, as well as terrestrial television
channel Bangladesh Television
.
The festivals of Shiva Chaturdashi
in middle of the month of Falgun
(end of February) and Chaitra Sankranti at end of the month of Chaitra
(mid April) are observed with much fanfare, featuring the largest Hindu fair of the district. The Sitakunda Upazila Krira Sangstha (Sports Club) is noted for its participation in soccer. There are 151 clubs, a public library and two cinema halls in the upazila.
Chittagong District
Chittagong District is a district located in the south-eastern region of Bangladesh. It is a part of the Chittagong Division. The port city of Chittagong, second largest city in Bangladesh, is located in this district.-History:...
of Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
. It includes one urban settlement, the Sitakunda Town
Sitakunda
Sitakunda or Sitakunda Town, is an administrative center and the sole municipality of Sitakunda Upazila.-Administration:...
, and 10 unions, the lowest of administrative units
Administrative division
An administrative division, subnational entity, or country subdivision is a portion of a country or other political division, established for the purpose of government. Administrative divisions are each granted a certain degree of autonomy, and are required to manage themselves through their own...
in Bangladesh. It is one of the 14 upazilas, the second tier of administrative units, of the Chittagong District, which also includes 12 thana
Administrative divisions of Bangladesh
Bangladesh is divided as follows#divisions 7 #districts 64 #subdistricts #Union ParishadsDhaka City has 90 wards and 725 mahallas.-Former regions:...
s, the urban equivalent of upazilas. The district is part of the Chittagong Division, the highest order of administrative units in Bangladesh. Sitakunda is the home of the country's first eco-park, as well as alternative energy
Alternative energy
Alternative energy is an umbrella term that refers to any source of usable energy intended to replace fuel sources without the undesired consequences of the replaced fuels....
projects, specifically wind energy
Wind energy
Wind energy is the kinetic energy of air in motion; see also wind power.Total wind energy flowing through an imaginary area A during the time t is:E = ½ m v2 = ½ v 2...
and geothermal power
Geothermal power
Geothermal energy is thermal energy generated and stored in the Earth. Thermal energy is the energy that determines the temperature of matter. Earth's geothermal energy originates from the original formation of the planet and from radioactive decay of minerals...
.
Sitakunda is one of the oldest sites of human habitation in Bangladesh. During much of its history, it was ruled alternatively by various Buddhist rulers of Myanmar
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
in the east and Muslims rulers of Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
in the west. For a brief period in the 8th century, it was ruled by the Buddhist Pala Empire
Pala Empire
The Pāla Empire was one of the major middle kingdoms of India existed from 750–1174 CE. It was ruled by a Buddhist dynasty from Bengal in the eastern region of the Indian subcontinent, all the rulers bearing names ending with the suffix Pala , which means protector. The Palas were often described...
of India
History of India
The history of India begins with evidence of human activity of Homo sapiens as long as 75,000 years ago, or with earlier hominids including Homo erectus from about 500,000 years ago. The Indus Valley Civilization, which spread and flourished in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent from...
. The eastern rulers originated from the Kingdom of Arakan
Rakhine State
Rakhine State is a Burmese state. Situated on the western coast, it is bordered by Chin State in the north, Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady Region in the east, the Bay of Bengal to the west, and the Chittagong Division of Bangladesh to the northwest. It is located approximately between...
, the Mrauk U
Mrauk U
Mrauk U is an archaeologically important town in northern Rakhine State, Myanmar. It is also the capital of Mrauk-U Township, a sub region of the Sittwe District. It was the capital of Mrauk U Kingdom, the most important and powerful Rakhine kingdom from 1433 to 1784.-Geography:Mrauk U lies...
dynasty, Arakanese
Magh people
The Magh is the term used in Bengal for the Arakanese or Rakhine people of Arakan. During the 16th and 17th centuries, the kingdom of Arakan expended its territories to the Chittagong area of Bengal...
pirates and the Pagan Kingdom
Pagan Kingdom
The Pagan Kingdom or Pagan Dynasty was the first kingdom to unify the regions that would later constitute the modern-day Burma...
. The western rulers came from the Sultanate of Bengal
Sultanate of Bengal
The Sultanate of Bengal was a state that existed from the 14th through the 16th centuries. It was eventually absorbed into the Mughal fold. The Sultanate was ruled by a series of dynasties with both local and foreign origins.-Origins:...
and the Mughal
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire , or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...
state of Suba Bangala
Subah
A Subah was a province of the Mughal Empire in South Asia. The governor of a subah was known as a subahdar, which later became subedar to refer to an officer in the Indian Army...
. European rule of Sitakunda was heralded by Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
privateers in 16th and 17th centuries, who ruled together with the pirates; and the British Raj
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
in 18th and 19th centuries, who unified Sitakunda into the rest of the Chittagong District.
Economic development in Sitakunda is largely driven by the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway
Dhaka-Chittagong Highway
The Dhaka–Chittagong Highway, officially named the N 1, is a main transportation artery in Bangladesh, linking the country's two largest cities, Dhaka and Chittagong.The highway is limited to two lanes of traffic for most of its length...
and the railway. Though Sitakunda is predominantly an agricultural
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
area, it also has the largest ship breaking
Ship breaking
Ship breaking or ship demolition is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for scrap recycling. Most ships have a lifespan of a few decades before there is so much wear that refitting and repair becomes uneconomical. Ship breaking allows materials from the ship, especially...
industry in the world. The industry has been accused of neglecting workers' rights, especially concerning work safety practices and child labor
Child labor
Child labour refers to the employment of children at regular and sustained labour. This practice is considered exploitative by many international organizations and is illegal in many countries...
. It has also been accused of harming the environment, particularly by causing soil contamination
Soil contamination
Soil contamination or soil pollution is caused by the presence of xenobiotic chemicals or other alteration in the natural soil environment....
. Sitakunda's ecosystems are further threatened by deforestation, over-fishing, and groundwater contamination. The upazila is also susceptible to natural hazards such as earthquake
Earthquake
An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...
s, cyclone
Cyclone
In meteorology, a cyclone is an area of closed, circular fluid motion rotating in the same direction as the Earth. This is usually characterized by inward spiraling winds that rotate anticlockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere of the Earth. Most large-scale...
s, and storm surge
Storm surge
A storm surge is an offshore rise of water associated with a low pressure weather system, typically tropical cyclones and strong extratropical cyclones. Storm surges are caused primarily by high winds pushing on the ocean's surface. The wind causes the water to pile up higher than the ordinary sea...
s. It lies on one of the most active seismic faults in Bangladesh, the Sitakunda–Teknaf fault.
Sitakunda is renowned for its numerous Islamic, Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
and Buddhist shrines. It has 280 mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
s, 8 mazar
Mazar
A Mazār is a tomb or mausoleum ; the word deriving from the Arabic verb zāra , 'to visit', whence also comes the noun ziyārah , 'a visit', or 'visiting the tomb of a saint for blessings.'. Though the word is Arabic in origin, it has been borrowed by a number of eastern languages, including Persian...
s, 49 Hindu temples, 4 ashram
Ashram
Traditionally, an ashram is a spiritual hermitage. Additionally, today the term ashram often denotes a locus of Indian cultural activity such as yoga, music study or religious instruction, the moral equivalent of a studio or dojo....
s, and 3 Buddhist temples. Among its notable religious sites are the Chandranath Temple
Chandranath Temple
Chandranath Temple located on top of the Chandranath hill is a famous Shakti Peeth located near Sitakunda in Bangladesh where as per Hindu sacred texts the right arm of Goddess Sati fell...
(a Shakti Peetha or holy pilgrimage site), Vidarshanaram Vihara (founded by the scholar Prajnalok Mahasthavir
Prajnalok Mahasthavir
Prajnalok Mahasthavir was a prominent scholar, writer and orator of Pali and a preacher, educationist and writer of Buddhism. In 1954, the Burmese government awarded him the title of Agga Mahapandit for his religious work and social services,...
), and the Hammadyar Mosque (founded by Sultan
Sultan
Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...
Ghiyasuddin Mahmud Shah
Ghiyasuddin Mahmud Shah
Ghiyasuddin Mahmud Shah was the last sultan of the Hussain Shahi dynasty, founded by Alauddin Husain Shah in 1494, of Bengal...
). The attraction of Sitakunda as a tourist destination is elevated by these pilgrimage sites along with the hill range and the eco-park. Despite its diverse population, the area has gone through episodes of communal strife
Communalism (South Asia)
This article deals with the use of the word communalism in South Asia, as a name for a force separating different communities based on some form of social or sectarian discrimination...
, including attacks on places of worship. There have been reports of activity by the Islamic militant group Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh since the early 2000s.
History
Bhargava
Bhargava is a common surname in Northern India and Maharashtra, mainly around Nashik. In Maharashtra, it is pronounced as Bhargave instead of Bhargava. It is also used as a first name in parts of southern India....
created a pond (kunda) for Sita Devi
Sita Devi
Sita is the wife of Rama, the seventh Avatar of Vishnu in the Hindu tradition. Sita is one of the principal characters in the Ramayana, a Hindu epic named after her husband Rama....
to bathe in when her husband Lord Ramchandra visited during his exile in the forests. Sitakunda derived its name from this incident.
Sitakunda has been occupied by humans since the Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
era; tools associated with the prehistoric Assam group
Hoabinhian
The term Hoabinhian was first used by French archaeologists working in Northern Vietnam to describe Holocene period archaeological assemblages excavated from rock shelters. It has become a common term in the English based literature to describe stone artifact assemblages in Southeast Asia that...
have been found throughout the area. In 1886, shouldered celts
Celt (tool)
Celt is an archaeological term used to describe long thin prehistoric stone or bronze adzes, other axe-like tools, and hoes.-Etymology:The term "celt" came about from what was very probably a copyist's error in many medieval manuscript copies of Job 19:24 in the Latin Vulgate Bible, which became...
manufactured from petrified wood
Petrified wood
Petrified wood is the name given to a special type of fossilized remains of terrestrial vegetation. It is the result of a tree having turned completely into stone by the process of permineralization...
were discovered, as reported by Indian archaeologist Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay
Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay
Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay , also known as R. D. Banerji, was an Indian historian and a native Indian pioneer in the fields of Indian archaeology, epigraphy and palaeography. He was the Manindra Chandra Nandy Professor of Ancient Indian History and Culture at the Banaras Hindu University from 1928-30...
in his book Banglar Itihas, or History of Bengal, (volume I, 1914). In 1917, British mineralogist Dr. J. Coggin Brown uncovered more prehistoric celts. Large quantities of pebbles have also been found, but archaeologists have not determined whether they were used in the construction of prehistoric tools.
During the 6th and 7th centuries CE
Common Era
Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...
, the Chittagong region was ruled by the Kingdom of Arakan
Rakhine State
Rakhine State is a Burmese state. Situated on the western coast, it is bordered by Chin State in the north, Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady Region in the east, the Bay of Bengal to the west, and the Chittagong Division of Bangladesh to the northwest. It is located approximately between...
. In the next century, it was briefly ruled by Dharmapala
Dharmapala of Bengal
Dharama Pala was the second ruler of the Pala Empire of Bengal region in the Indian Subcontinent. He was the son and succeessor of Gopala , the founder of the Pala Dynasty. He greatly expanded the boundaries of the Pala Empire founded by his father and made the Palas the most dominant power in...
(reign: 770–810) of the Pala Empire
Pala Empire
The Pāla Empire was one of the major middle kingdoms of India existed from 750–1174 CE. It was ruled by a Buddhist dynasty from Bengal in the eastern region of the Indian subcontinent, all the rulers bearing names ending with the suffix Pala , which means protector. The Palas were often described...
. The area was conquered in 1340 by Sultan Fakhruddin Mubarak Shah
Fakhruddin Mubarak Shah
Fakhruddin Mubarak Shah ruled an independent kingdom in areas that lie within modern-day eastern and southeastern Bengal. The kingdom's capital was Sonargaon. His conquests of the Comilla and Noakhali were followed by territorial gains to the north and south...
(reign: 1338–1349) of Sonargaon
Sonargaon
Sonargaon is the ancient capital of Isa Khan's kingdom in Bengal. It is located near the current-day city of Narayanganj, Bangladesh....
, who founded the first dynasty of the Sultanate of Bengal. When Sultan Ghiyasuddin Mahmud Shah
Ghiyasuddin Mahmud Shah
Ghiyasuddin Mahmud Shah was the last sultan of the Hussain Shahi dynasty, founded by Alauddin Husain Shah in 1494, of Bengal...
(reign: 1533–1538) of the last dynasty of the Sultanate of Bengal was defeated in 1538 by Sher Shah Suri
Sher Shah Suri
Sher Shah Suri , birth name Farid Khan, also known as Sher Khan , was the founder of the short-lived Sur Empire in northern India, with its capital at Delhi, before its demise in the hands of the resurgent Mughal Empire...
of the Sur Dynasty
Sur Dynasty
The Suri Empire was established by a Muslim dynasty of Afghan origin who ruled a vast territory in the Indian subcontinent between 1540 to 1557, with Delhi serving as its capital...
, the Arakanese captured the region again. Batsauphyu (reign: 1459–1482) of the Mrauk U
Mrauk U
Mrauk U is an archaeologically important town in northern Rakhine State, Myanmar. It is also the capital of Mrauk-U Township, a sub region of the Sittwe District. It was the capital of Mrauk U Kingdom, the most important and powerful Rakhine kingdom from 1433 to 1784.-Geography:Mrauk U lies...
dynasty took advantage of the weakness of Sultan Barbak Shah of Bengal to lead the invasion. In this period, Keyakchu (or Chandrajyoti), a prince of Arakan, established a monastery in Sitakunda. Between 1538 and 1666, Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
privateers (known as Firinghis or Harmads) made inroads into Chittagong and ruled the region in alliance with Arakanese
Magh people
The Magh is the term used in Bengal for the Arakanese or Rakhine people of Arakan. During the 16th and 17th centuries, the kingdom of Arakan expended its territories to the Chittagong area of Bengal...
pirates. During those 128 years, the eastern coast of Bengal became a home to pirates of Portuguese and Arakanese origins. For a brief period in 1550, it was taken over by Pagan
Pagan Kingdom
The Pagan Kingdom or Pagan Dynasty was the first kingdom to unify the regions that would later constitute the modern-day Burma...
invaders. In 1666, Mughal commander Bujurg Umed Khan conquered the area.
Along with the rest of Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
, Sitakunda came under the rule of the British East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
after the company's defeat of the Nawab of Bengal
Nawab of Bengal
The Nawabs of Bengal were the hereditary nazims or subadars of the subah of Bengal during the Mughal rule and the de-facto rulers of the province.-History:...
at the Battle of Plassey
Battle of Plassey
The Battle of Plassey , 23 June 1757, was a decisive British East India Company victory over the Nawab of Bengal and his French allies, establishing Company rule in South Asia which expanded over much of the Indies for the next hundred years...
in 1757. Rapid growth in the Bengali
Bengali people
The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...
population since then resulted in an exodus of non-Bengali people from Sitakunda and its vicinity to the Chittagong Hill Tracts
Chittagong Hill Tracts
The Chittagong Hill Tracts comprise an area of 13,295 km2 in south-eastern Bangladesh, and borders India and Myanmar . It was a single district of Bangladesh until 1984. In that year it was divided into three separate districts: Khagrachari, Rangamati and Bandarban. Topographically, this is the...
. During the Ardhodaya Yog movement, a part of the Swadeshi Indian independence movement
Swadeshi movement
The Swadeshi movement, part of the Indian independence movement, was an economic strategy aimed at removing the British Empire from power and improving economic conditions in India by following the principles of swadeshi , which had some success...
, the governance of Sitakunda was briefly in the hands of Indian nationalists when, in February 1908, they took over the central government in Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
. In 1910, Indian Petroleum Prospecting Company drilled here for hydrocarbon exploration, the first such activity in East Bengal
East Bengal
East Bengal was the name used during two periods in the 20th century for a territory that roughly corresponded to the modern state of Bangladesh. Both instances involved a violent partition of Bengal....
. In 1914, the first onshore wildcat well in Bangladesh was drilled at Sitakunda anticline to a depth of 762 metres (2,500 ft). By 1914, however, all four of the wells drilled had proven to be failures.
After the Indian Rebellion of 1857
Indian Rebellion of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 began as a mutiny of sepoys of the British East India Company's army on 10 May 1857, in the town of Meerut, and soon escalated into other mutinies and civilian rebellions largely in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, with the major hostilities confined to...
, the British colonial government
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
(British Raj) replaced the governance of the East India Company
Company rule in India
Company rule in India refers to the rule or dominion of the British East India Company on the Indian subcontinent...
. When the British withdrew in 1947, after creating the independent states of India and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, Sitakunda became a part of East Pakistan
East Pakistan
East Pakistan was a provincial state of Pakistan established in 14 August 1947. The provincial state existed until its declaration of independence on 26 March 1971 as the independent nation of Bangladesh. Pakistan recognized the new nation on 16 December 1971. East Pakistan was created from Bengal...
. The potential for a ship breaking
Ship breaking
Ship breaking or ship demolition is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for scrap recycling. Most ships have a lifespan of a few decades before there is so much wear that refitting and repair becomes uneconomical. Ship breaking allows materials from the ship, especially...
industry first appeared in 1964 when Chittagong Steel House started scrapping MD Alpince, a 20000 metric tons (19,684 LT) Greek ship that had been accidentally beached near Fouzdarhat by a tidal bore
Tidal bore
A tidal bore is a tidal phenomenon in which the leading edge of the incoming tide forms a wave of water that travel up a river or narrow bay against the direction of the river or bay's current...
four years earlier. During the Bangladesh Liberation War
Bangladesh Liberation War
The Bangladesh Liberation War was an armed conflict pitting East Pakistan and India against West Pakistan. The war resulted in the secession of East Pakistan, which became the independent nation of Bangladesh....
of 1971, Sitakunda was part of Sector 1, led by Ziaur Rahman
Ziaur Rahman
President Ziaur Rahman, Bir Uttam, was a Bangladeshi politician and general, who read the declaration of Independence of Bangladesh on March 26, 1971 on behalf of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He later became the seventh President of Bangladesh from 1977 until 1981...
and Major Rafiqul Islam of the Mukti Bahini
Mukti Bahini
Mukti Bahini , also termed as the "Freedom Fighters" or FFs, collectively refers to the armed organizations who fought against the Pakistan Army during the Bangladesh Liberation War. It was dynamically formed by Bengali regulars and civilians after the proclamation of Bangladesh's independence on...
, the forces fighting for the independence of Bangladesh. The ship breaking industry began in earnest in 1974 when Karnafully Metal Works started scrapping Al Abbas, a Pakistani ship damaged in 1971, and flourished in the 1980s. As of 2007, Sitakunda had overtaken the ship breaking industries of India and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
to become the largest in the world.
In the early 2000s, Islamic militant organization Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) leader Siddikul Islam (also known as Bangla Bhai
Bangla Bhai
Siddique ul-Islam , known popularly as Bangla Bhai , also known as Aziz ur-Rahman Azizur Rôhman, was a Bangladeshi terrorist and the military commander of the Al Qaeda affiliated radical pseudo-Islamist organization Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh , known in popular usage as...
) ran militant training centers in the upazila at which participants learned to make bombs and handle firearms. One of his followers, Mahfuzul Huq, was captured on 21 February 2006.
Geography and climate
Mirsharai Upazila
click' Mirsarai Official Web Site Mirsharai Upazila with an area of 482.88 km2, is bounded by Tripura State of India, chhagalnaiya and feni sadar upazilas on the north, sitakunda and sandwip upazilas on the south, fatikchhari upazila on the east, sonagazi and companiganj upazilas on the...
to the north, Pahartali
Pahartali Thana
Pahartali is a Thana of Chittagong District in the Division of Chittagong, Bangladesh.-Geography:Pahartali is located at . It has 37192 units of house hold and total area 46.62 km²....
to the south, Fatickchhari
Fatikchhari Upazila
Fatikchhari is an Upazila of Chittagong District in the Division of Chittagong, Bangladesh.-Geography:Fatikchhari is located at . It has 65861 units of house hold and total area 773.55 km². The main river flowing on Fatikchhari Upazila is Dhurung...
, Hathazari
Hathazari Upazila
Hathazari is an Upazila of Chittagong District in the Division of Chittagong, Bangladesh.-Geography:Hathazari is located at . It has 52,594 household units and total area of 251.28 km². The main river flowing on Hathazari Upazila is Halda...
and Panchlaish
Panchlaish Thana
Panchlaish is a Thana of Chittagong District in the Division of Chittagong, Bangladesh.-Geography:Panchlaish is located at . It has 37105 units of house hold and total area 27.45 km².-Demographics:...
to the east, and the Sandwip Channel in the Bay of Bengal
Bay of Bengal
The Bay of Bengal , the largest bay in the world, forms the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. It resembles a triangle in shape, and is bordered mostly by the Eastern Coast of India, southern coast of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to the west and Burma and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the...
to the west. The Sitakunda range is a 32 kilometres (20 mi) long ridge in the center of the upazila, which reaches an altitude of 352 metres (1,155 ft) above sea level at Chandranath or Sitakunda peak, the highest peak in Chittagong District. Part of Sitakunda is covered by the low hill ranges, while the rest is in the Bengal flood plain. To the north, Rajbari Tila at 274 metres (899 ft) and Sajidhala at 244 metres (801 ft) are the highest peaks in this range, which drops abruptly to a height of less than 92 metres (302 ft) in the vicinity of Chittagong City to the south. About 5 kilometres (3 mi) north of Sitakunda Town is the Labanakhya saltwater hot spring
Hot spring
A hot spring is a spring that is produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater from the Earth's crust. There are geothermal hot springs in many locations all over the crust of the earth.-Definitions:...
, which has been proposed as a source of geothermal energy. There are two waterfalls in the hills: Sahasradhara (thousand streams) and Suptadhara (hidden stream). Both have been identified as sites requiring special attention for protection and preservation by the National Heritage Foundation of Bangladesh
National Heritage Foundation of Bangladesh
National Heritage Foundation of Bangladesh is a civil society group in Bangladesh. Led by Rizwan Bin Farouq, convener of the foundation, it was formed in 2007. The target of the group is to promote and preserve Bangladeshi culture and heritage. The foundation identified a number of sites across the...
.
An area prone to cyclones and storm surges, Sitakunda was affected by cyclones in 1960, 1963, 1970, 1988, 1991, 1994 and 1997; the cyclones of 29 May 1963, 12 November 1970, 29 April 1991 made landfall
Landfall (meteorology)
Landfall is the event of a tropical cyclone or a waterspout coming onto land after being over water. When a waterspout makes landfall it is reclassified as a tornado, which can then cause damage inland...
.
The intra-deltaic coastline is very close to the tectonic interface of the Indian and Burmese plate
Burma Plate
The Burma Plate is a small tectonic plate or microplate located in Southeast Asia, often considered a part of the larger Eurasian Plate. The Andaman Islands, Nicobar Islands, and northwestern Sumatra are located on the plate...
s, as well as the active Andaman–Nicobar fault system, and is often capable of generating tsunami
Tsunami
A tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or a large lake...
s. Cyclone preparedness measures are inadequate for the 200,000 residents of Sitakunda who were estimated to be living in high risk areas after the 1991 cyclone. For every 5,000 people, Sitakunda has only one cyclone shelter, each of which is capable of holding 50 to 60 people. Syedpur Union has eleven, Muradpur eight, Baraiyadhala seven, and Kumira five. Sitakunda municipality, Barabkunda, Bhatiary and Bansbaria have four shelters each. Salimpur has three and Sonaichhari Union has two shelters.
The Chittagong Coastal Forest Department developed the river bars
Shoal
Shoal, shoals or shoaling may mean:* Shoal, a sandbank or reef creating shallow water, especially where it forms a hazard to shipping* Shoal draught , of a boat with shallow draught which can pass over some shoals: see Draft...
(char in Bengali) on the bank of the Sonaichhari channel adjacent to the Sitakunda coast into a kilometer-wide coastal mangrove
Mangrove
Mangroves are various kinds of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes N and S...
plantation during 1989–90, to reduce the impact of cyclones. Although the site was initially unstable, rapid sediment accretion stabilised the soil, providing the coast with some protection. The cyclone of 1990 smashed about 25% of a 2 kilometres (1 mi) sea-wall built using two-ton steel-reinforced concrete blocks, some of which were carried up to 100 metres (328 ft) inland. In contrast, a mangrove plantation just south of the sea-wall sustained damage to less than 1% of its trees, most of which recovered within six months. The planted mangrove forest that helped Sitakunda to escape as one the least damaged areas during the devastating 1991 Bangladesh cyclone
1991 Bangladesh cyclone
-External links:** from NIRAPAD disaster response organisation.**...
is under threat from illegal tree-cutting by ship-breakers in the area.
Annual average temperature is between 32.5 °C (91 °F) and 13.5 °C (56 °F), with an annual rainfall of 2687 millimetres (106 in). Along with Chittagong and Hathazari, in June 2007 Sitakunda was badly affected by mudslides caused by heavy rainfall combined with the recent practice of hill-cutting. The mean annual wind speed recorded in Sitakunda between 1991 and 2001 was 1.8 knots (2 mph), as measured by the wind monitoring station built as part of a wind energy
Wind energy
Wind energy is the kinetic energy of air in motion; see also wind power.Total wind energy flowing through an imaginary area A during the time t is:E = ½ m v2 = ½ v 2...
exploration project jointly run by the Local Government Engineering Department
Local Government Engineering Department
Local Government Engineering Department is an organ of Bangladesh government created for provision of transport infrastructures in rural areas and to provide technical support to the rural and the urban local government institutions , planning and implementation of infrastructure development...
and the Bangladesh Center for Advanced Studies
Bangladesh Center for Advanced Studies
Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies is a think tank in Bangladesh working to develop national capabilities in addressing resource management, environment and development issues by use of existing intellectual, technology and manpower. It was set up in 1984 by Dr.Saleemul Huq who became the...
. A small 300-watt wind turbine, built by the government, provides electricity to fish farms.
Geology
Structural geology
Structural geology is the study of the three-dimensional distribution of rock units with respect to their deformational histories. The primary goal of structural geology is to use measurements of present-day rock geometries to uncover information about the history of deformation in the rocks, and...
of Sitakunda, 70 kilometres (43 mi) long and 10 kilometres (6 mi) wide, is one of the westernmost structures of Chittagong
Chittagong District
Chittagong District is a district located in the south-eastern region of Bangladesh. It is a part of the Chittagong Division. The port city of Chittagong, second largest city in Bangladesh, is located in this district.-History:...
and Chittagong Hill Tracts
Chittagong Hill Tracts
The Chittagong Hill Tracts comprise an area of 13,295 km2 in south-eastern Bangladesh, and borders India and Myanmar . It was a single district of Bangladesh until 1984. In that year it was divided into three separate districts: Khagrachari, Rangamati and Bandarban. Topographically, this is the...
, delimited by the Feni River
Feni River
Feni River is a river in the Indian state of Tripura and southeastern Bangladesh. It is a trans-boundary river with an on-going dispute.But recently India, Bangladesh finalised deal on Teesta, Feni river waters...
in the north, the Karnaphuli River
Karnaphuli River
Karnaphuli is a wide river in the south-eastern part of Bangladesh. Originating from the Lushai hills in Mizoram, India, it flows southwest through Chittagong Hill Tracts and Chittagong into the Bay of Bengal. A large hydroelectric power plant using Karnaphuli river was built in the Kaptai...
in the south, the Halda River
Halda River
Halda River is a river in South-Eastern Bangladesh. It originates at the Badnatali Hill Ranges in Ramgarh Upazila in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, flows through Fatikchhari Upazila, Hathazari Upazila, Raozan Upazila and Chittagong Kotwali Thana, and falls into the Karnaphuli River...
in the east and the Sandwip Channel in the west. The Sitakunda Range acts as a water divide
Water divide
A drainage divide, water divide, divide or watershed is the line separating neighbouring drainage basins...
between the Halda Valley and the Sandwip Channel. The 88 kilometres (55 mi) -long Halda flows from Khagrachari
Khagrachari District
Khagrachari is a district in south-eastern Bangladesh. It is a part of the Chittagong Division and the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Its local name is "Chengmi"...
to the Bay of Bangal, and is one of the six tributaries
Tributary
A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...
of Karnafuli, the major river in the area. Sandwip Channel represents the northern end of the western part of the Chittagong-Tripura Folded Belt
Geology of Bangladesh
The Geology of Bangladesh is affected by the country's location, as Bangladesh is a riverine country. It is the eastern two-thirds of the Ganges and Brahmaputra river delta plain stretching to the north from the Bay of Bengal...
.
The structure contains a thick sedimentary sequence of sandstone, shale and siltstone. The exposed sedimentary rock sequences except limestone, 6500 metres (21,325 ft) thick in an average, provide no difference in overall lithology
Lithology
The lithology of a rock unit is a description of its physical characteristics visible at outcrop, in hand or core samples or with low magnification microscopy, such as colour, texture, grain size, or composition. It may be either a detailed description of these characteristics or be a summary of...
of Chittagong and Chittagong Hill Tracts. The Sitakunda fold is an elongated, asymmetrical, box-type double plunging anticline
Anticline
In structural geology, an anticline is a fold that is convex up and has its oldest beds at its core. The term is not to be confused with antiform, which is a purely descriptive term for any fold that is convex up. Therefore if age relationships In structural geology, an anticline is a fold that is...
. Both the gently dipping eastern and steeper western flanks of the anticline are truncated abruptly by the alluvial plain of the Feni River. For a lack of infrastructure in Bangladesh, this anticline is one of the few regularly surveyed structures in the country. The syncline
Syncline
In structural geology, a syncline is a fold, with younger layers closer to the center of the structure. A synclinorium is a large syncline with superimposed smaller folds. Synclines are typically a downward fold, termed a synformal syncline In structural geology, a syncline is a fold, with younger...
from Sitakunda separates the eastern end of the Feni Structure
Feni District
Feni is a small southern district of Bangladesh, bordering Tripura in India, Chittagong district, the Bay of Bengal, Noakhali district and Comilla district...
located in the folded flank of the Bengal Foredeep
Bengal Foredeep
The Bengal Foredeep is a one of the world's largest exogeosynclines. It runs parallel to the hinge zone of the Sub-Himalayan Foredeep. It is about 450 kilometers wide in southern Bangladesh, narrowing towards the northeast. Folded belts of the Burmese Alpide mobile belt marks its eastern boundary...
.
Local experts consider the Sitakunda–Teknaf fault to be one of the two most active seismic faults in Bangladesh. After the earthquake of 2 April 1762, which caused a permanent submergence of 155.4 square kilometres (60 sq mi) of land near Chittagong and the death of 500 people in Dhaka
Dhaka
Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh and the principal city of Dhaka Division. Dhaka is a megacity and one of the major cities of South Asia. Located on the banks of the Buriganga River, Dhaka, along with its metropolitan area, had a population of over 15 million in 2010, making it the largest city...
, two volcanoes are said to have opened in the Sitakunda hills. During a seismic tremor on 7 November 2007, fire broke out at the Bakharabad Gas Systems Limited in the Faujderhat area of the upazila when a pipeline was fractured. The Girujan Clay Formation runs through Sitakunda at a thickness of 168 metres (551 ft). In the Sitakunda hills, the Boka Bil Shale Formation contains Ostrea digitalina, Ostrea gryphoides and numerous plates of Balanus
Balanus
Balanus is a genus of barnacles in the family Balanidae of the subphylum Crustacea, containing the following species:*Balanus albicostatus*Balanus amaryllis Darwin*Balanus amphitrite Darwin, 1854*Balanus aquila Pilsbry, 1907...
(a type of Barnacle
Barnacle
A barnacle is a type of arthropod belonging to infraclass Cirripedia in the subphylum Crustacea, and is hence related to crabs and lobsters. Barnacles are exclusively marine, and tend to live in shallow and tidal waters, typically in erosive settings. They are sessile suspension feeders, and have...
s), fragments of Arca, Pecten, Trochus
Trochus
Trochus is a genus of medium-sized to very large sea snails. They are marine gastropod molluscs in the family Trochidae, the top snails....
, Oliva
Oliva
Oliva is a municipality in the comarca of Safor in the Valencian Community, Spain, in the Valencian language area. To its east lie 10 km of coastline and beaches fronting the Mediterranean Sea....
and coral
Coral
Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...
s. Both formations were identified and named by early 20th-century British petroleum geologist
Petroleum geology
Petroleum geology refers to the specific set of geological disciplines that are applied to the search for hydrocarbons .-Sedimentary basin analysis:...
P. Evans.
Demography
According to the census of 2001, Sitakunda had a population of 298,528 distributed to 55,837 units of households (average household size 5.3), including 163,561 men and 134,967 women, or a gender ratio of 121:100. The average population of component administrative units of the upazila are 4,072 for wards, 1,666 for mahallaMahalla
A mahalla is an urban division in Uzbekistan. Historically, mahallas were autonomous social institutions built around familial ties and Islamic rituals. Before the establishment of the Soviet rule in Uzbekistan, Mahallas fulfilled local self-government functions connecting private sphere with...
s, 29,853 for unions, 5,060 for mouza
Mouza
In Bangladesh, a mouza is a type of administrative district, corresponding to a specific land area within which there may be one or more settlements. Before the 20th century, the term referred to a revenue collection unit in a pargana or revenue district. As populations increased and villages...
s (revenue villages) and 5,060 for village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
s reported by the census. Out of the 69 mauzas here, 8 have less than 50 households, while 27 have more than 600 households. Of the villages, 8 have a population of less than 250, while 29 have more than 2,500. , the population density of Sitakunda was 692 PD/sqkm.
Apart from the Bengali
Bengali people
The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...
majority, there are a number of small communities of ethnic minorities in the area. Many of the resident Rakhine people
Rakhine people
The Rakhine , is a nationality in Myanmar forming the majority along the coastal region of present day Rakhine State or Arakan State. They possibly constitute 5.53% or more of Myanmar's total population but no accurate census figures exist. Rakhine people also live in the southeastern parts of...
are believed to have settled here during the Arakanese rule of Chittagong (1459–1666), though the event is not historically traceable. The Rakhine population in Khagrachari District
Khagrachari District
Khagrachari is a district in south-eastern Bangladesh. It is a part of the Chittagong Division and the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Its local name is "Chengmi"...
migrated from the surrounding area and built up their permanent abode at Ramgarh
Ramgarh Upazila
Ramgarh is an Upazila of Khagrachari District in the Division of Chittagong, Bangladesh.-Geography:Ramgarh is located at . It has 9304 units of house hold and total area 240.87 km².-Demographics:...
in the 19th century. Other ethnic groups include the recently migrated Tripuri people. In the District of Chittagong that includes Sitakunda, the population ratio by religion in 2001 was Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
83.92%, Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
13.76%, Buddhist 2.01% and Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
0.12%, with 0.19% following other religions. In 1981, it was Muslim 82.79%, Hindu 14.6%, Buddhist 2.23% and Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
0.21%, with 0.19% following other religions. Chittagonian
Chittagonian language
Chittagonian is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the people of Chittagong in Bangladesh and in much of the southeast of the country. It is closely related to Bangla, but is normally considered by linguists to be a separate language rather than a dialect of Bangla. It is estimated to have 14...
, a derivative of Bengali
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
spoken by 14 million people mainly in the Chittagong district, is the dominant language.
Administration
Thana
Thana means "police station" in South Asian countries, and can also mean the district controlled by a police station.* Thana, along with upazila, is a subdistrict in the Administrative divisions of Bangladesh...
came into existence in 1879, and was renamed to Sitakunda Upazila in 1983. It ranks third in area and sixth in population out of the 26 upazilas and thanas of Chittagong. Sitakunda Town, with an area of 28.63 square kilometres (11.05 sq mi) and a population of 36,650, is the administrative center and the sole municipality
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...
(Pourashabha) of Sitakunda Upazila. Shafiul Alam is the mayor of the town, gaining a landslide win over his nearest contender M Abul Kalam Azad in the 2008 mayoral election. The rest of the area is rural
Rural
Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...
and organized into 10 Union Committees (Union Parishads), namely Banshbaria, Barabkunda, Bariadyala, Bhatiari, Kumira, Muradpur, Salimpur, Sonaichhari, Saidpur and Bhatiari Cantonment Area. The area is divided into 69 mauzas and 59 villages. Along with neighboring towns like Hathazari, Fateyabad
Chittagong
Chittagong ) is a city in southeastern Bangladesh and the capital of an eponymous district and division. Built on the banks of the Karnaphuli River, the city is home to Bangladesh's busiest seaport and has a population of over 4.5 million, making it the second largest city in the country.A trading...
, Patiya and Boalkhali, Sitakunda Town was developed as a satellite town to relieve the increasing population pressure on Chittagong, with Bhatiari and Sadar unions selected as zones for industrialization, like South Halishahar
Chittagong
Chittagong ) is a city in southeastern Bangladesh and the capital of an eponymous district and division. Built on the banks of the Karnaphuli River, the city is home to Bangladesh's busiest seaport and has a population of over 4.5 million, making it the second largest city in the country.A trading...
and Kalurghat
Chittagong
Chittagong ) is a city in southeastern Bangladesh and the capital of an eponymous district and division. Built on the banks of the Karnaphuli River, the city is home to Bangladesh's busiest seaport and has a population of over 4.5 million, making it the second largest city in the country.A trading...
. In the 2009 Upazila elections, Abdullah Al Baker Bhuiyan was elected the Upazila Chairman, while Advocate MN Mustafa Nur and Nazmun Nahar were elected vice chairmen.
Sitakunda Upazila makes the 280th electoral district in Bangladesh, identified as Chittagong-2. In the 2008 general election, of Bangladesh Awami League
Bangladesh Awami League
The Bangladesh Awami League , commonly known as the Awami League, is the mainstream center-left, secular political party in Bangladesh...
(AL) was elected as the member of parliament, defeating his nearest opponent of Bangladesh Nationalist Party
Bangladesh Nationalist Party
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party , commonly referred to as the BNP, is the mainstream center-right political party in Bangladesh. BNP ruled Bangladesh total 18 years since her independence, the longest than any other party in Bangladesh...
(BNP). In the previous election held in 2001, Siddiki had defeated Kasem. M Akteruzzaman is the Upazila Nirbahi Officer, the chief executive of the upazila. The upazila is served by a court presided over by a first-class magistrate
Magistrate
A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...
. The Power Development Board is responsible for supplying electricity to the upazila, but due to power outages the industries in the area are strictly constrained. Anwarul Kabir Talukder, the State Minister for Power, lost his job on 29 September 2006 after hundreds of demonstrators in Sitakunda blocked the Dhaka–Chittagong highway in protest at the lack of electricity; violence also erupted elsewhere in Bangladesh. In case of fire, the services are brought in from the neighboring city of Chittagong. A proposed Kumira–Sitakunda Hill Water Reservoir Project to supply safe drinking water is to be undertaken by the government.
Economy
Ship breaking
Ship breaking or ship demolition is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for scrap recycling. Most ships have a lifespan of a few decades before there is so much wear that refitting and repair becomes uneconomical. Ship breaking allows materials from the ship, especially...
industry in Sitakunda has surpassed similar industries in India and Pakistan to become the largest in the world. As of August 2007, over 1500000 metric tons (1,476,305 LT) of iron had been produced from the scrapping of about 20 ships in the 19 functional ship yards scattered over 8 square kilometres (3 sq mi) along the coast of Sitakunda 8 – from Chittagong
Chittagong
Chittagong ) is a city in southeastern Bangladesh and the capital of an eponymous district and division. Built on the banks of the Karnaphuli River, the city is home to Bangladesh's busiest seaport and has a population of over 4.5 million, making it the second largest city in the country.A trading...
, near Fouzderhat. Local re-rolling mills, as well as similar mills, process the scrap iron. Bangladesh, with no local metal ore mining industry of its own, is dependent on ship-breaking for its domestic steel requirements; the re-rolling mills alone substitute for import of about 1200000 metric tons (1,181,044 LT) of billets and other raw materials. There are 70 companies registered as ship breakers in Chittagong, employing 2,000 regular and 25,000 semi-skilled and unskilled workers. Organized under the Bangladesh Ship Breakers Association, (BSBA), these include companies within large local conglomerate
Conglomerate (company)
A conglomerate is a combination of two or more corporations engaged in entirely different businesses that fall under one corporate structure , usually involving a parent company and several subsidiaries. Often, a conglomerate is a multi-industry company...
s that sought ISO certificate
ISO 9000
The ISO 9000 family of standards relates to quality management systems and is designed to help organizations ensure they meet the needs of customers and other stakeholders . The standards are published by ISO, the International Organization for Standardization, and available through National...
s.
The industry has come under threat, both from a decline in the number of ships scrapped annually – down from 70–80 to about 20 – and because of environmental and work safety
Occupational safety and health
Occupational safety and health is a cross-disciplinary area concerned with protecting the safety, health and welfare of people engaged in work or employment. The goal of all occupational safety and health programs is to foster a safe work environment...
concerns. There have been complaints that journalists and human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
activists are being barred from the ship breaking yards. The ship breaking industry is purportedly damaging the local ecology as well, taking a toll on the fish population and soil quality. A survey conducted by students of the Institute of Marine Science of Chittagong University
Chittagong University
The University of Chittagong is a public university situated at the suburban area of Hathazari, Chittagong district, Bangladesh. The university was established in 1966. The campus is at 22 km north to the Chittagong city. It has a shuttle train service from 7:00 AM to 9:30 PM for the...
in 2007 revealed that the soil of the locality is polluted by heavy metals including mercury (0.5 to 2.7 ppm), lead (0.5 to 21.8 ppm), chromium (220 ppm), cadmium (0.3 to 2.9 ppm), iron (2.6 to 5.6 ppm), calcium (5.2 to 23.2 ppm) and magnesium (6.5 to 10.57 ppm). Safety standards in the industry are low; between 1995 and 2005, 150 workers were killed and 576 were maimed
Mutilation
Mutilation or maiming is an act of physical injury that degrades the appearance or function of any living body, usually without causing death.- Usage :...
or injured. The main causes of death were fire or explosion, suffocation and inhaling CO2
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
. These old ships also contain hazardous substances like asbestos, lead paint, heavy metals and PCB
Polychlorinated biphenyl
Polychlorinated biphenyls are a class of organic compounds with 2 to 10 chlorine atoms attached to biphenyl, which is a molecule composed of two benzene rings. The chemical formula for PCBs is C12H10-xClx...
s. The workers are paid US$1.75 a day and have little access to medical treatment. Among the workers, 41% of are aged between 18 and 22 years, and many are reported to be as young as 10 years of age. There have also been allegations of large quantities of steel and non-ferrous items, such as bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
, aluminum, copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
, and bronze-amalgam
Amalgam (chemistry)
An amalgam is a substance formed by the reaction of mercury with another metal. Almost all metals can form amalgams with mercury, notable exceptions being iron and platinum. Silver-mercury amalgams are important in dentistry, and gold-mercury amalgam is used in the extraction of gold from ore.The...
recovered from ship breaking being smuggled out of Bangladesh.
Employment of local people is low in the industrial facilities. The main occupations of the local people by industry are service (28.76%), commerce
Commerce
While business refers to the value-creating activities of an organization for profit, commerce means the whole system of an economy that constitutes an environment for business. The system includes legal, economic, political, social, cultural, and technological systems that are in operation in any...
(21.53%), and agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
(24.12%). Out of 12140.83 hectares (30,000.62 acre) of cultivable land 25.46% yield a single crop, 57.95% yield double and 16.59% a treble crop annually. Bean, melon, rubber and betel
Betel
The Betel is the leaf of a vine belonging to the Piperaceae family, which includes pepper and Kava. It is valued both as a mild stimulant and for its medicinal properties...
leaf are the main agricultural exports. Fishing has traditionally been an industry restricted to low caste
Caste
Caste is an elaborate and complex social system that combines elements of endogamy, occupation, culture, social class, tribal affiliation and political power. It should not be confused with race or social class, e.g. members of different castes in one society may belong to the same race, as in India...
Hindus belonging to the fisher class, although since the last decades of the 20th century an increasing number of Muslims have joined the sector. Due to the introduction of engine-powered boats and gill nets, there was a rise in fish catches between the 1970s and 1990s, especially in the major fishing season (mid-July to mid-November). Over-fishing, however, has depleted the fish population and some fish species are facing extinction in the area, leading to seasonal food insecurity
Food security
Food security refers to the availability of food and one's access to it. A household is considered food-secure when its occupants do not live in hunger or fear of starvation. According to the World Resources Institute, global per capita food production has been increasing substantially for the past...
(February to April). According to a 2001 survey, 4,000 people in Sitakunda were engaged in wild shrimp fry
Spawn (biology)
Spawn refers to the eggs and sperm released or deposited, usually into water, by aquatic animals. As a verb, spawn refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, also called spawning...
collection, harvesting an average of five-and-a-half million fries a year.
Sitakunda has a cement factory, 12 jute
Jute
Jute is a long, soft, shiny vegetable fibre that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced from plants in the genus Corchorus, which has been classified in the family Tiliaceae, or more recently in Malvaceae....
mills, 6 textile mills, 10 re-rolling mills, and 79 functional and defunct shipyards. Two of the operational jute mills are run by the Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation, and one has been sold to a private sector
Private sector
In economics, the private sector is that part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, which is run by private individuals or groups, usually as a means of enterprise for profit, and is not controlled by the state...
company. To protest against privatization, workers of Hafiz Jute Mill, Gul Ahmed Jute Mill, MM Jute Mill and RR Jute Mill blocked the Dhaka–Chittagong Highway for seven hours in September 2007. As early as 1953, Sitakunda was described as the location for one of only five poultry farms
Poultry farming
Poultry farming is the raising of domesticated birds such as chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese, for the purpose of farming meat or eggs for food. According to the Worldwatch Institute, 74 percent of the world's poultry meat, and 68 percent of eggs are produced in ways that are described as...
in East Pakistan
East Pakistan
East Pakistan was a provincial state of Pakistan established in 14 August 1947. The provincial state existed until its declaration of independence on 26 March 1971 as the independent nation of Bangladesh. Pakistan recognized the new nation on 16 December 1971. East Pakistan was created from Bengal...
, along with Tejgaon (Dhaka), Narayanganj
Narayanganj
Narayanganj is a city in central Bangladesh. It is located in the Narayanganj District, near the capital city of Dhaka and has a population of 220,000. The city is on the bank of the Shitalakshya River. The river port of Narayanganj is one of the oldest in Bangladesh...
(Dhaka), Jamalpur (Bogra
Bogra
Bogra is a town, and one of the oldest towns in northern Bangladesh. It is a centre of commerce and trade within the Bogra District and located under the Rajshahi Division. Bogra is sometimes described as the nerve centre of Northern Bangladesh. Amongst many notable activities, it has been hosting...
), and Sylhet
Sylhet
Sylhet , is a major city in north-eastern Bangladesh. It is the main city of Sylhet Division and Sylhet District, and was granted metropolitan city status in March 2009. Sylhet is located on the banks of the Surma Valley and is surrounded by the Jaintia, Khasi and Tripura hills...
. Some mining for sand from agricultural lands is carried out along the eastern side of the Dhaka–Chittagong road. Operators of local brick kilns are engaged in illegal hill cutting, a practice that was responsible along with heavy rainfall for the 2007 Chittagong mudslide
2007 Chittagong mudslide
The 2007 Chittagong mudslides occurred in the port city of Chittagong in south-eastern Bangladesh. On 11 June 2007, heavy monsoon rainfall caused landslides that engulfed slums around the hilly areas of the city...
. The rural poor are supported by Grameen Bank
Grameen Bank
The Grameen Bank is a microfinance organization and community development bank started in Bangladesh that makes small loans to the impoverished without requiring collateral...
and NGOs such as CARE
CARE (relief)
CARE is a broad-spectrum secular relief, humanitarian, and development non-governmental organization fighting global poverty. It is non-political, non-sectarian and operates annually in more than 70 countries across the globe.One of the organization’s primary focuses in its fight to eradicate...
, BRAC
BRAC (NGO)
BRAC, based in Bangladesh, is the world's largest non-governmental development organization. Established by Sir Fazle Hasan Abed in 1972 soon after the independence of Bangladesh, BRAC is present in all 64 districts of Bangladesh, with over 7 million microfinance group members, 37,500 non-formal...
and ASA
Association for Social Advancement
The Association for Social Advancement ' is a non-governmental organization based in Bangladesh which provides microcredit financing. It was established in 1978 by Shafiqual Haque Choudhury and a team of people who were then working for other established NGOs but who themselves were arguing for...
.
Transport and communication
Asian Development Bank
The Asian Development Bank is a regional development bank established on 22 August 1966 to facilitate economic development of countries in Asia...
(ADB) estimated that improving the highway would increase Bangladesh's GDP by 1% and its foreign trade by 20%. This roadlink between the two cities existed in the pre-railway days and has been identified as a part of the medieval southern Silk Road
Silk Road
The Silk Road or Silk Route refers to a historical network of interlinking trade routes across the Afro-Eurasian landmass that connected East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean and European world, as well as parts of North and East Africa...
. In 2006, ADB and the World Bank announced a plan to help Bangladesh build a second highway between Dhaka and Chittagong, which would be a part of the Asian Highway Network
Asian Highway Network
The Asian Highway project, also known as the Great Asian Highway, is a cooperative project among countries in Asia and Europe and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific , to improve the highway systems in Asia...
.
Historically, the rail transport
Rail transport
Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...
ation system drove developments in Chittagong and the surrounding areas, including Sitakunda. The rail tracks were established as part of the Bengal Assam Railway
Bengal Assam Railway
The origin of the Bengal Assam Railway, a railway system operated in India between 1942-47, lies in the Assam Bengal Railway, which was conceived in the late eighties of the nineteenth century, when railways had come to expand in different parts of the subcontinent, with the objective of developing...
in 1898, originally running from Chittagong to Badarpur, with branches to Silchar
Silchar
Silchar is the headquarters of Cachar district in the state of Assam in India. It is the economic gateway to the state of Mizoram and part of Manipur. It is south east of Guwahati. The city of Silchar has tremendous commercial importance and is the second largest city in the state of Assam...
and Laksam
Laksam Upazila
Laksam is an Upazila of Comilla District in the Division of Chittagong, Bangladesh. Laksam has 25 Unions/Wards, 484 Mauzas/Mahallas, and 504 villages.-Geography:...
. In September 1878, Sitakunda was included in the East Bengal Circle of Railway Mail Service (RMS) along with rest of the district. By 1904, the track system was extended to Chandpur
Chandpur Sadar Upazila
Chandpur Sadar is an Upazila of the Chandpur District in the Division of Chittagong, Bangladesh.It is mainly reputed for its famous hilsha fish, which are caught by the local fishermen from the nearby Meghna river.-Demographics:...
to connect river boat traffic between Goalanda
Goalandaghat Upazila
Goalandaghat is an Upazila of Rajbari District in the Division of Dhaka, Bangladesh.-Geography:Goalandaghat is located at . It has 15694 units of house hold and total area 149.03 km².-Demographics:...
and Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
. Approximately 37 kilometres (23 mi) of railroads stop at six rail stations. Currently, there is no express train service between Sitakunda and Chittagong, though intercity expresses (Sylhet–Chittagong, Chandpur–Chittagong, and Dhaka–Chittagong) stop at Sitakunda station and carry a small share of the commuter traffic load. By 2003, there were a total of 112 kilometres (70 mi) of paved roads in the upazila, along with 256 kilometres (159 mi) of mud roads, as well as five ferry-gauts
Ferry slip
A ferry slip is a specialized docking facility that receives a ferryboat or train ferry. A similar structure called a barge slip receives a barge or car float that is used to carry wheeled vehicles across a body of water....
or river docks for the use of barge
Barge
A barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Some barges are not self-propelled and need to be towed by tugboats or pushed by towboats...
-type ferry
Ferry
A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...
boats. The traditional bullock cart
Bullock cart
A bullock cart or ox cart is a two-wheeled vehicle pulled by oxen . It is a means of transportation used since ancient times in many parts of the world. They are still used today where modern vehicles are too expensive or the infrastructure does not favor them.Used especially for carrying goods,...
s are now rarely seen in the upazila.
Sitakunda was to be the landing station for a submarine communications cable
Submarine communications cable
A submarine communications cable is a cable laid on the sea bed between land-based stations to carry telecommunication signals across stretches of ocean....
, but the cable now comes ashore at Cox's Bazaar. The cable has frequently been severed by miscreants, often in the Sitakunda area, since its installation on 21 May 2006. Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication
Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication
Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication is a national networking body in Bangladesh. Its stated objectives include building a democratic society based on the principles of free flow of information, and equitable and affordable access to Information and Communication Technologies for...
(BNNRC) has brought internet services to the upazila by establishing Rural Knowledge Centres (RKC). BTTB and RanksTel
RanksTel
RanksTel is a Bangladeshi fixed line operator.It is a private public switched telephone network operator in Bangladesh. As of December 2009, total number of subscriber of this operator is 274.895 thousand It is the second largest PSTN operator in Bangladesh. On March 19, 2010 RanksTel office...
run telephone services in the upazila. The telephone area code for Sitakunda is 3028, which has to be added to Bangladesh area code +880 when making overseas calls, and the subscriber numbers consist of four digits locally.
Pilgrimage sites
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
s (including the Shah Mosque) 8 mazar
Mazar
A Mazār is a tomb or mausoleum ; the word deriving from the Arabic verb zāra , 'to visit', whence also comes the noun ziyārah , 'a visit', or 'visiting the tomb of a saint for blessings.'. Though the word is Arabic in origin, it has been borrowed by a number of eastern languages, including Persian...
s (including Baro Awlias Mazar, Kalu Shah Mazar, Fakir Hat Mazar), 49 Hindu temples (including Labanakhya Mandir, Chandranath Mandir, Shambunath Mandir), 3 ashram
Ashram
Traditionally, an ashram is a spiritual hermitage. Additionally, today the term ashram often denotes a locus of Indian cultural activity such as yoga, music study or religious instruction, the moral equivalent of a studio or dojo....
s (including
Sitakunda Shankar Math), and 3 Buddhist temples. The Hammadyar Mosque, located at the village of Masjidda on the banks of a tank
Water tank
A Water tank is a container for storing water. The need for a water tank is as old as civilized man, providing storage of water for drinking water, irrigation agriculture, fire suppression, agricultural farming, both for plants and livestock, chemical manufacturing, food preparation as well as many...
known as the Hammadyar Dighi, was built during the reign of Ghiyasuddin Mahmud Shah, the last Husain Shahi sultan of Bengal, as recorded by the inscription above the central entrance. The Sudarshan Vihara at village Mayani here, as well as the Vidarshanaram Vihara at village Mayani in Patiya
Patiya Upazila
Patiya is an Upazila of Chittagong District in the Division of Chittagong, Bangladesh.-Geography:Patiya is located at . It has 70218 units of house hold and total area 316.47 km².-Demographics:...
were both established in 1922 by Prajnalok Mahasthavir
Prajnalok Mahasthavir
Prajnalok Mahasthavir was a prominent scholar, writer and orator of Pali and a preacher, educationist and writer of Buddhism. In 1954, the Burmese government awarded him the title of Agga Mahapandit for his religious work and social services,...
(1879–1971), an eminent Bangladeshi Buddhist preacher.
According to legend, Shiva
Shiva
Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
's wife Sati
Dakshayani
Dākshāyani or Satī is a Hindu Goddess of marital felicity and longevity. She is worshipped particularly by Hindu women to seek the long life of their husbands...
immolated
Self-immolation
Self-immolation refers to setting oneself on fire, often as a form of protest or for the purposes of martyrdom or suicide. It has centuries-long traditions in some cultures, while in modern times it has become a type of radical political protest...
herself in the yajna
Yajna
In Hinduism, yajna is a ritual of sacrifice derived from the practice of Vedic times. It is performed to please the gods or to attain certain wishes...
-fire of her father Daksha
Daksha
In Hinduism, Daksha, "the skilled one", is an ancient creator god, one of the Prajapatis, the Rishis and the Adityas. Daksha is said to be the son of Aditi and Brahma...
, as a protest against Shiva's dishonor. The God became furious and started to dance the Tāndava
Tandava
' or ', the divine art form, is a dance performed by the god Shiva, who is revered by Hindus. According to Hindu mythology, Shiva’s Tandava is a vigorous dance that is the source of the cycle of creation, preservation and dissolution...
with Sati's body on his shoulders. Knowing that the dance of destruction was about to annihilate the world, Vishnu
Vishnu
Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
cut the body of Sati to pieces with Sudarshana Chakram
Chakram
The chakram , sometimes called a war quoit, is a throwing weapon from India. Its shape is of a flat metal hoop with a sharp outer edge from in diameter...
, his celestial weapon, thereby appeasing Shiva. Each of 51 pieces of the body fell to earth, and the place where each piece fell became a holy center of pilgrimage or Shakti Peetha. The legend goes that Sati's right arm fell near a now-extinct hot spring at the Chandranth peak in Sitakunda. The site is marked by the temple of Sambhunath just below the Chandranath temple on top of the peak, and it is a major tirtha
Tirtha
In Jainism, a tīrtha |ford]], a shallow part of a body of water that may be easily crossed") is used to refer both to pilgrimage sites as well as to the four sections of the sangha...
for Hindus in Bangladesh.
According to Rajmala
Rajmala
Rajmala is the ancient royal chronicle of the Kings of Tripura. It has been written in Bengali since the 14th century AD . Initially, but unrecorded it was in circulation in Kokborok language, the language of the Tripura kings before it was translated to Bengali in the 14th...
, the temple of Chandranath received considerable endowments from the Twipra Kingdom
Twipra Kingdom
Twipra Kingdom was one of the largest ancient kingdom of the Tipra people of the Bodo-Kachari ethnicity in the Northeastern region of the Indian Subcontinent having a chronicle of 186 Kings till the present times .- Geographical spread :The present political...
in the time of king Dhanya Manikya, who once attempted to remove the lingam
Lingam
The Lingam is a representation of the Hindu deity Shiva used for worship in temples....
from the temple to his kingdom. Poets from across the ages – from Jayadeva
Jayadeva
Jayadeva was a Sanskrit poet circa 1200 AD. He is most known for his composition, the epic poem Gita Govinda, which depicts the divine love of Krishna-an avatar of Vishnu and his consort, Radha, and it is mentioned that Radha is greater than Hari, and is considered an important text in the...
(circa 1200 AD) to Nabinchandra Sen (1847–1909) – were said to be devoted to the temple. Chandranath is within the jurisdiction of Gobardhan Math, which was founded, according to legends, by Padmacharya, a disciple of Shankaracharya
Adi Shankara
Adi Shankara Adi Shankara Adi Shankara (IAST: pronounced , (Sanskrit: , ) (788 CE - 820 CE), also known as ' and ' was an Indian philosopher from Kalady of present day Kerala who consolidated the doctrine of advaita vedānta...
and founder of Vana and Aranya sects of the Dashanami Sampradaya
Dashanami Sampradaya
Dashanami Sampradaya is a Hindu monastic tradition of Ekadandisannyasins [1][5][7] generally associated with the Advaita Vedanta tradition...
. An International Vedic Conference was held from 15 February to 17 February 2007 at Sitakunda Shrine (Tirtha) Estate in Sitakunda Chandranath Dham, on the occasion of the great Shiva Chaturdarshi (a Hindu festival in worship of Lord Shiva). These temples have been subject to repeated attack and violation by Muslims, and Bangladeah Hindu Bouddha Christian Oikya Parishad (Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Solidiarity Association) has asked for the pilgrims to be protected.
Flora and fauna
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
after completing a floral survey, Joseph Dalton Hooker
Joseph Dalton Hooker
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker OM, GCSI, CB, MD, FRS was one of the greatest British botanists and explorers of the 19th century. Hooker was a founder of geographical botany, and Charles Darwin's closest friend...
(1817–1911) carried out the first survey of Sitakunda's local flora, as recorded in his Himalayan Journals, in January 1851 (published by the Calcutta Trigonometrical Survey
Great Trigonometric Survey
The Great Trigonometric Survey was a project of the Survey of India throughout most of the 19th century. It was piloted in its initial stages by William Lambton, and later by George Everest. Among the many accomplishments of the Survey were the demarcation of the British territories in India and...
Office and Minerva Library of Famous Books; Ward, Lock, Bowden & Co., 1891).
The forests of the region are known to be evergreen type with a preponderance of deciduous species with a levelled distribution. The topmost level consists of Garjan (Dipterocarpus alatus
Dipterocarpus
Dipterocarpus is a genus of flowering plants and the type genus of family Dipterocarpaceae. The genus has about 70 species, occurring in Southeast Asia. It is an important component of dipterocarp forests...
), Telsur (Hopea odorata
Hopea odorata
Hopea odorata, or takian, is a species of plant in the Dipterocarpaceae family. It is found in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. In Thailand it is believed to be inhabited by a spirit, Lady Takian....
), Chapalish (Artocarpus chaplasha
Artocarpus
Artocarpus is a genus of about 60 trees of Southeast Asian origin and the Pacific, belonging to the mulberry family, Moraceae.-Description:...
), Chundul (Tetrameles nudiflora
Tetrameles nudiflora
Tetrameles nudiflora is a species of plant in the Tetramelaceae family. It is a tree found in Queensland , Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Burma, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam...
) and Koroi or the Moluccan albizia (Albizia falcataria). The lower level consists of species of Jarul (Lagerstroemia speciosa
Lagerstroemia speciosa
thumb|left|Bark in [[Kolkata]], [[West Bengal]], [[India]].Lagerstroemia speciosa thumb|left|Bark in [[Kolkata]], [[West Bengal]], [[India]].Lagerstroemia speciosa thumb|left|Bark in [[Kolkata]], [[West Bengal]], [[India]].Lagerstroemia speciosa (Giant Crape-myrtle, Queen's Crape-myrtle, Banabá...
), Toon (Toona ciliata
Toona ciliata
Australian Red Cedar , Toona ciliata is a forest tree in the family Meliaceae which grows throughout southern Asia from Afghanistan to Papua New Guinea and Australia. In Australia its natural habitat is now extensively cleared subtropical rainforests of New South Wales and Queensland...
), Jam (Syzygium cumini), Jalpai (Elaeocarpus robustus
Elaeocarpus
Elaeocarpus is a genus of tropical and subtropical evergreen trees and shrubs. The approximately 350 species are distributed from Madagascar in the west through India, Southeast Asia, Malaysia, southern China, and Japan, through Australia to New Zealand, Fiji, and Hawaii in the east. The islands of...
) and Glochidion. Liana
Liana
A liana is any of various long-stemmed, woody vines that are rooted in the soil at ground level and use trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the canopy to get access to well-lit areas of the forest. Lianas are especially characteristic of tropical moist deciduous...
s, epiphytes (mostly of orchids, asclepiads, ferns and leafy mosses) and herbaceous undergrowths are abundant. Savannah formations are found in the open, along the banks of rivers and swamps with common tall grasses like Kans (Saccharum spontaneum), Shon (Imperata cylindrica and I. arundincca) and Bena (Vetiveria zizanoides). Several species of Bamboo are cultivated that are common in Bangladesh including Bambusa balcooa
Bambusa balcooa
Bambusa balcooa or the Balcooa Bamboo is a clumping bamboo of Indian origin. It is popular with the Vietnamese as food, and can be used as a short life timber for temporary constructions. Although a species of copious growth, it cannot get out of control as running types when not tended. It can...
(which is also common in Assam
Assam
Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
), B. vulgaris
Bambusa vulgaris
Bambusa vulgaris, also known as Bambu Ampel , Buloh Aur, Buloh Pau, Buloh Minyak, Aur Beting , Mai-Luang, Phai-Luang , Daisan-Chiku , Murangi , Gemeiner Bambus , Bambou de Chine , Bambu Vulgar , Mwanzi , Common Bamboo, Golden Bamboo or Buddha’s Belly Bamboo...
, B. longispiculata
Bambusa longispiculata
Bambusa longispiculata or Mahal Bamboo is an Australian species of clumping bamboo. Growing in wide and open clumps it makes an excellent shelter for waterfowl. It is not suited for harvesting and is very suitable for soil stabilization on dam faces.It can grow up to a height of 10 m, and a...
, B. tulda
Bambusa tulda
Bambusa tulda or Indian Timber Bamboo is considered to be one of the most useful of bamboo species. It is used extensively by the paper pulp industry in India. It can grow up to a height of 15 m, and a thickness of 8 cm....
and B. nutans
Bambusa
Bambusa is a large genus of clumping bamboos. These species are usually giant ones, with numerous branches at a node and one or two much larger than the rest...
; the latter two also being common in the hills of the region.
A number of fish species have become endangered in the area due to overfishing
Overfishing
Overfishing occurs when fishing activities reduce fish stocks below an acceptable level. This can occur in any body of water from a pond to the oceans....
. They include Bhoal (Raiamas bola
Raiamas bola
Raiamas bola is a carp of the Cyprinidae family, available in the Bay of Bengal....
), Lakkhya (Eleutheronema tetradactylum
Eleutheronema tetradactylum
Eleutheronema tetradactylum, also known as Indian Salmon, is a threadfin fish of the Polynemidae family. This highly commercial fish known for uses in aquaculture occur mainly over shallow muddy bottoms in coastal waters forming loose schools. Adults of this highly vulnerable species enter rivers...
), Chapila (Gudusia chapra
Gudusia chapra
Gudusia chapra is a shad of the Clupeidae family, available in rivers of India and Bangladesh, chiefly the Ganges and Brahmaputra systems affluent to the Bay of Bengal. It is also found in Nepal, Pakistan and the Mahanadi River of Orissa, India. Outside the rivers it also occurs in ponds, beels,...
), Datina (Acanthopagrus latus), Rupchanda (Pampus argenteus), Pungash (Pangasius pangasius
Pangasius pangasius
Pangasius pangasius or Pangash is a catfish of the Pangasiidae family, available in the Bay of Bengal....
), Chhuri (Trichiurus lepturus), Ilsha Chandana (Tenualosa toli
Tenualosa toli
Tenualosa toli or Chinese Herring or Toli Shad is a shad of the Clupeidae family, available in western Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal to the Java Sea and the South China Sea. It may be found in Mauritius and the Cambodian Mekong near the Viet Nam border. It inhabits fast-flowing, turbid...
), Hilsha (Tenualosa ilisha), Faishya (Anchoviella commersonii
Anchovy
Anchovies are a family of small, common salt-water forage fish. There are 144 species in 17 genera, found in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. Anchovies are usually classified as an oily fish.-Description:...
), Maittya (Scomberomorus commerson), Gnhora (Labeo gonius), Kata (Nemapteryx nenga), Chewa (Taenioides cirratus
Taenioides cirratus
Taenioides cirratus is a goby of the Gobiidae family. It is predominantly found in coastal waters and estuaries, as well as rivers in offshore islands of East Africa, India, and Australia. It has been reported from Japan, Bangladesh, New Guinea and New Caledonia. This mud-dweller is capable of...
), Sundari bele (Glossogobius giuris
Glossogobius giuris
Glossogobius giuris is a goby of the Gobiidae family, available in the Bay of Bengal. It is said to be the largest of the Gobiinae species.- Appearance, Size and Colouration :...
), Bnata (Liza parsia
Liza parsia
Gold-spot mullet, Liza parsia, is a mullet of the Mugilidae family.- Sources :*...
), Koral (Etroplus suratensis
Etroplus suratensis
The green chromide is a species of cichlid fish from freshwater and brackish water in southern India and Sri Lanka...
) and Kawoon (Anabas testudineus), as well as crustacean
Crustacean
Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...
s like tiger shrimps.
The first eco-park in Bangladesh, along with a botanical garden
Botanical garden
A botanical garden The terms botanic and botanical, and garden or gardens are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word botanic is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is a well-tended area displaying a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names...
, was established in 2001 under a five-year (2000–2004) development project at a cost of on 808 hectares (1,997 acre) of the Chandranath Hills in Sitakunda. The eco-park was established to facilitate biodiversity
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
conservation, natural regeneration, new plantations and infrastructure development, as well as to promote nature-based tourism to generate income. The park, 405 hectares (1,001 acre), and the garden, 403 hectares (996 acre), under the Bariadhala Range of Chittagong Forest Division, are rich with natural Gymnosperm
Gymnosperm
The gymnosperms are a group of seed-bearing plants that includes conifers, cycads, Ginkgo, and Gnetales. The term "gymnosperm" comes from the Greek word gymnospermos , meaning "naked seeds", after the unenclosed condition of their seeds...
tree species including Podocarpus neriifolius
Podocarpus neriifolius
Podocarpus neriifolius is a species of conifer in the Podocarpaceae family.It is found in Brunei, Cambodia, China, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Solomon Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam....
and species of Gnetum
Gnetum
Gnetum is a genus of about 30-35 species of gymnosperms, the sole genus in the family Gnetaceae and order Gnetales. They are tropical evergreen trees, shrubs and lianas. Unlike other gymnosperms they possess vessel elements in the xylem...
and Cycas
Cycas
Cycas is the type genus and the only genus currently recognised in the cycad family Cycadaceae. About 95 species are currently accepted. The best-known species is Cycas revoluta, widely cultivated under the name "Sago Palm" or "King Sago Palm" due to its palm-like appearance although it is not a...
. The park is reported to be able to receive 25,000 visitors in a single weekend. With the botanical garden included, the number of visitors can reach up to 50,000. According to the International Journal of Biodiversity Science and Management, however, "ignoring the dependence of local people on park resources created conflicts between local communities and the park authority" and "prohibition on the extraction of forest products from the park... make the livelihoods of surrounding villagers vulnerable".
Society
The educational institutions of the upazila include Faujdarhat Cadet CollegeFaujdarhat Cadet College
Faujdarhat Cadet College, is a selective high school , modeled after public schools in the UK , financed partially by the Bangladesh Army, located at Faujdarhat, near Chittagong, in Bangladesh....
(founded in 1958), 4 regular colleges (including Sitakunda Degree College founded in 1968), 24 high schools (including Sitakunda Government High School founded in 1913), 10 madrasas, and 76 junior and primary schools. All the secondary schools and regular colleges are under the Chittagong Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education split from the Comilla Board in May, 1995. Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah
Muhammad Shahidullah
Muhammad Shahidullah , popularly known as Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah was a famous Bengali educationist, writer philologist and linguist.A dormitory in University of Dhaka is named after him .-Early life:...
(1885–1969), an eminent Bangladeshi linguist, served as the headmaster of the Government High School from 1914 to 1915. On 24 July 1996, members of Bangladesh Chhatra League
Bangladesh Chhatra League
Bangladesh Chhatra League is the largest, oldest and drastic student political party in Bangladesh. It is the student wing of the Bangladesh Awami League. Its motto is "Education | Peace | Prosperity" and its slogan is "Joy Bangla - Joy Bangabandhu"...
and Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir
Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir
Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir is an Islamic student organization in Bangladesh. It is the de facto student wing of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, a political party.This organization was previously named as 'Islamai Chattra Shangha'...
(ICS) in Sitakunda Degree College fought with guns and bombs over a minor dispute. On 29 July 1996, two ICS members of the college were abducted and killed. Faujdarhat Cadet College
Faujdarhat Cadet College
Faujdarhat Cadet College, is a selective high school , modeled after public schools in the UK , financed partially by the Bangladesh Army, located at Faujdarhat, near Chittagong, in Bangladesh....
and Bangladesh Military Academy
Bangladesh Military Academy
Bangladesh Military Academy is the prestigious training institute for the officer cadets of Bangladesh Army. It is located in Bhatiary, near Chittagong HIll Tracts, in the Chittagong District of south-east Bangladesh. The Academy is nestled on the slopes of the Sitakunda hill ranges and also...
are also situated in this upazila. , average literacy of Sitakunda Upazila for people of 7 years of age or more is 54.6%, while the average literacy of Sitakunda Pourashabha is 53.9%. There has been an overall growth of 32.9% between 1991 and 2001, which for men was 20.5% and for women 59.2%. 70,315 people of the Upazila between the ages of 5 and 24 years attend schools, an overall increase of 35.6% between 1991 and 2001, which for men was 28.1% and for women 45.4%. The highest school attendance rate is observed in age group 10–14 years.
The health service centers in the upazila include a health complex, an infectious diseases hospital, a railway TB hospital
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
, 11 family planning centres and a veterinary treatment centre. Bangladesh Railway
Bangladesh Railway
Bangladesh Railway is the state-owned rail transport agency of Bangladesh. It operates and maintains the entire railway network of the country...
set up the hospital at Kumira in 1952 with a capacity of 150 beds. The capacity was reduced to 50 beds in 1994 as some focus was redirected to the hospital Central Railway Building in Chittagong. Originally built to treat railway employees, the hospital now also treats people from the wider community. Malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
, dengue and other fevers, hepatitis
Hepatitis
Hepatitis is a medical condition defined by the inflammation of the liver and characterized by the presence of inflammatory cells in the tissue of the organ. The name is from the Greek hepar , the root being hepat- , meaning liver, and suffix -itis, meaning "inflammation"...
, as well as respiratory infections including tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
are some of the major health threats. The percentage of disabled in Sitakunda is reported to be the highest in Bangladesh, at 17% compared to the national average of 13%.
Banshbaria Union has been declared as 100% sanitized, as all households in the union adopted sanitary latrines, while the upazila has only 16% sanitation coverage. A survey published in 2006 by the Bangladesh Arsenic Mitigation Water Supply Project found that of the 18,843 tube well
Tube well
A tube well is a type of water well in which a long 100–200 mm wide stainless steel tube or pipe is bored into the underground aquifer. The lower end is fitted with a strainer, and a pump at the top lifts water for irrigation...
s surveyed, 24.7% were found to be contaminated
Arsenic contamination of groundwater
Arsenic contamination of groundwater is a natural occurring high concentration of arsenic in deeper levels of groundwater, which became a high-profile problem in recent years due to the use of deep tubewells for water supply in the Ganges Delta, causing serious arsenic poisoning to large numbers of...
. Visible signs of arsenic poisoning
Arsenic poisoning
Arsenic poisoning is a medical condition caused by increased levels of the element arsenic in the body. Arsenic interferes with cellular longevity by allosteric inhibition of an essential metabolic enzyme...
were found in 47 people.
National newspapers published in Dhaka including Prothom Alo
Prothom Alo
Prothom Alo is a major daily newspaper in Bangladesh, published from Dhaka in the Bengali language.-History:Prothom Alo was founded on 4 November 1998. As at January 2009, it had an average circulation of 435,000...
, Ajker Kagoj
Ajker Kagoj
The Daily Ajker Kagoj was a Bengali language newspaper published in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Launched in 1991 under the editorship of Naimul Islam Khan, it established itself as a modern genre Bengali language newspaper....
, Janakantha
Janakantha
Dainik Janakantha is a Bengali language daily newspaper published from Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is owned by the Globe group . This newspaper was first published on 21 February 1993....
and The Daily Ittefaq are available in Sitakunda, as well as regional newspapers published in Chittagong Azadi and Purbakon. It also has its own local newspapers and a journalist community. In 2003, Atahar Siddik Khasru, the president of the local Press Club, went missing on 30 April and was rescued on 21 May. He was abducted and tortured by unidentified men allegedly on charges of protesting against the harassment of Mahmudul Haq, editor of local magazine Upanagar. On 6 May, about 30 local journalists working for national and local press took to the streets in protest. The other weekly newspaper is Chaloman Sitakunda. Television channels available in the upazila include satellite television
Satellite television
Satellite television is television programming delivered by the means of communications satellite and received by an outdoor antenna, usually a parabolic mirror generally referred to as a satellite dish, and as far as household usage is concerned, a satellite receiver either in the form of an...
channels like Channel i
Channel I
Channel i is a privately owned Television network in Bangladesh. It is owned by the Impress Group, among the largest conglomerates in Bangladesh with interests in textiles, pharmaceuticals and media....
, ATN Bangla
ATN Bangla
ATN Bangla is a Bengali language digital cable television channel. It transmits from its studio in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The channel is transmitted in South Asia, the Middle-east, Europe, and North America. The channel offers a wide variety of programming including news, movies, dramas, talk shows,...
, Channel One
Channel One (Bangladesh)
Channel One is a Bengali language satellite television channel from Bangladesh. It started broadcasting from Dhaka on 24 January 1993.It is owned by the One Entertainment Limited, a sister concern of One Group....
, NTV
NTV (Bangladesh)
NTV is a Bengali language satellite television channel based in Bangladesh. It started operation in 2003. It is one of the most popular Bengali TV channels in the country. In the anniversary of the channel, the founder expressed interest in creating NTV2 to satisfy the watchers further, however he...
, as well as terrestrial television
Terrestrial television
Terrestrial television is a mode of television broadcasting which does not involve satellite transmission or cables — typically using radio waves through transmitting and receiving antennas or television antenna aerials...
channel Bangladesh Television
Bangladesh Television
Bangladesh Television , also known by the acronym BTV, is the state-owned Television network in Bangladesh. It started broadcasting as Pakistan Television in what was then East Pakistan on 25 December 1964. It was renamed Bangladesh Television after the independence in 1971. Broadcasts in full...
.
The festivals of Shiva Chaturdashi
Maha Shivaratri
Maha Shivratri or Maha Sivaratri or Shivaratri or Sivarathri is a Hindu festival celebrated every year on the 13th night/14th day in the Krishna Paksha of the month of Maagha or Phalguna...
in middle of the month of Falgun
Falgun
Falgun is the eleventh month in the नेपाली Nepali calendar বঙ্গাব্দ Bangla Calendar and the Bikram Sambat. This also marks the arrival of spring,the sixth and final season in Nepal and Bangladesh...
(end of February) and Chaitra Sankranti at end of the month of Chaitra
Choitro
Choitro is the last of the twelve months of the Bangla Calendar. It falls from mid-March to mid-April and is the last month of Spring.Choitro is also known as:*Chait in the Nepali Bikram Sambat calendar....
(mid April) are observed with much fanfare, featuring the largest Hindu fair of the district. The Sitakunda Upazila Krira Sangstha (Sports Club) is noted for its participation in soccer. There are 151 clubs, a public library and two cinema halls in the upazila.
See also
- Hinduism in BangladeshHinduism in BangladeshHinduism is the second largest religious affiliation in Bangladesh, covering more than 9.2% of the population, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics...
- List of Bangladesh tropical cyclones
- Upazilas of BangladeshUpazilas of Bangladesh||The districts of Bangladesh are divided into subdistricts called Upazila Parishad , or Thana . Upazilas are similar to the county subdivisions found in some Western countries....