Bongaigaon district


Bongaigaon district is an administrative district in the state of Assam in northeastern India. The district headquarters are located at Bongaigaon. The district occupies an area of 2,510 km2.

History

The district of Bongaigaon was created on 29 September 1989 from parts of Goalpara and Kokrajhar districts. 2004 saw a loss of size when part of the district was split to make Chirang district.

Geography

Bongaigaon district occupies an area of, comparatively equivalent to Réunion.
Bongaigaon district is surrounded by Barpeta in the east, the Brahmaputra in the south and Kokrajhar in the north and west corner and share international border with Bhutan in the north. The places that are worth visiting in Bongaigaon are eco-park, Bagheswari temple, tea garden, and Suryapahar. The history of Bagheswari temple is such that once a priest saw in his dream that Maa Bagheswari asked him to go to a particular place where if he digs out he will find a sword that belonged to Maa Bagheswari. And the next morning when the priest went to dig in the place he saw in his dreams, he found the sword. After that day a temple was built over the place and there they worship the sword. There is no idol inside the temple.

Economy

In 2006 the Indian government named Bongaigaon one of the country's 250 most backward districts. It is one of the eleven districts in Assam currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme.

Divisions

The district has three subdivisions: Bongaigaon, Bijni, and North Salmara. In 2004, parts of the Bongaigaon district were given over to form the Chirang district, under the Bodoland Territorial Council, with its district headquarters at Kajalgaon.
There are four Assam Legislative Assembly constituencies in this district: Bongaigaon, Bijni, Abhayapuri North, and Abhayapuri South. The latter is designated for scheduled castes. Bijni is in the Kokrajhar Lok Sabha constituency, whilst the other three are in the Barpeta Lok Sabha constituency.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Bongaigaon district has a population of 738,804, roughly equal to the nation of Guyana or the US state of Alaska. This gives it a ranking of 496th in India. The district has a population density of . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001–2011 was 19.58%. Bongaigaon has a sex ratio of 961 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 70.44%.
Muslims are a majority of the district with 50.22%, while 359,145 people are Hindus.