অপরূপা ঘাটাইল / Wonderful Ghatail

Ghatail Upazila- with an area of 451.30 sq km, is bounded by gopalpur and madhupur upazilas on the north, fulbaria and bhaluka upazilas on the east, kalihati and sakhipur upazilas on the south, bhuapur and Gopalpur upazilas on the west. Main rivers are bangshi, Jhenai, Lohajang, Salisundar. Noted hills are Deopara, Dhalapara and Sagardighi.

Ghatail (Town) consists of 9 wards and 15 mahallas. It has a population of 24328; male 43.17%, female 56.83%. Literacy rate among the town people is 42.4%.

Administration The upazila consists of one municipality, 11 union parishads, 310 mouzas and 415 villages.

Historical events During the War of Liberation a Pakistan military cargo carrying arms and ammunitions was captured by the Muktibahini under the leadership of Habibur Rahman (Bir Bikram). In the battle that followed 30 members of the Pakistan army were killed.

Marks of War of Liberation A memorial pillar at Kumar Para of Makrai.

Religious institutions Mosque 510, temple 8.

Population 341376; male 51.14%, female 48.86%; Muslim 95.4%, Hindu 3.4, ethnic and others 1.2%.

Literacy and educational institutions Average literacy 27.4%; male 33.7% female 20.3.8%. Educational institutions: university college 1, women's college 1, higher secondary school 3, secondary school 37, government primary school 103, non-government primary school 52, community primary school 10 and madrasa 52.

Newspapers and periodicals Monthly Ghatail (extinct).

Cultural organisations Rural club 113, cinema hall 6, auditorium 1, playground 12, women's cooperative society 60, agricultural cooperative society 169, poor cooperative society 13, women's tailoring training centre 1 and centre for protection of children and women against repression 1.

Main occupations Agriculture 59.46%, agricultural laborer 16.7%, wage labourer 1.47%, commerce 7.78%, transport 1.54%, service 5.23%, others 7.82%.

Land use Total land under cultivation 33300 hectares; fallow land 11871 hectares; single crop 22%, double crop 49% and treble crop land 29%.

Land control Among the peasants 48% are landless, 35% small, 11% marginal and 6% rich.

Value of land The market value of the land of the first grade is Tk 8500 per 0.01 hectare.

Main crops Paddy, jute, mustard seed and potato, pineapple, ginger, turmeric and banana.

Extinct and nearly extinct crops Sesame, linseed, wheat garlic.

Main fruits Mango, jackfruit, banana, papaya, berry, watermelon and pineapple.

Fisheries, dairies, poultries Livestock welfare centre 3, artificial insemination centre 3, diary 7, poultry 21.

Communication facilities Roads: pucca 4722 km, semi pucca 28.98 km, mud road 844.59 km.

Traditional transport palanquin, horse carriage, bullock cart, buffalo cart and dhuli. These means of transport are either extinct or nearly extinct.

Cottage industries Goldsmith 150, blacksmith 50, potteries 780, wood work 540.

Hats, bazars and fairs Hats and bazars are 22, most noted of which are Hamidpur, Ghatail, Dhalapara, Sagardighi and Pakutia; fairs 3.

Main exports Jute, pineapple, watermelon, paddy, oil and pipe.

NGO activities Operationally important NGOs are brac, proshika, asa and SVS, Palli Unnayan Sangstha and Jibika.

Health centres Upazila health complex 1, satellite clinic 6, family welfare centre 10 and community clinic 24