Goalpara


Goalpara, Pron: ) is the district headquarters of Goalpara district, Assam, India. It is situated to the west of Guwahati.

Etymology

The name Goalpara is said to have originated from the word "Gwaltippika" meaning Guwali village, or The village of the milk men. In local dialect, "para" means village.

Geography

Goalpara is located on the bank of the river Brahmaputra. Goalpara Kingdom was being ruled by KochRajbongshi Kings. It has an average elevation of 35 metres.
Goalpara is endowed with scenic beauty. Hulukanda Hill, located at the heart of Goalpara on the bank of the Brahmaputra river, is one of the natural scenic views in the town, with various kinds of waterfowl and monkeys. There are some other bodies of water such as Hashila beel, Kumri beel, and Urpad beel. The Urpad beel becomes the centre of migratory birds during Oct-March. The evergreen forests on low hills create an undulating landscape. People of Goalpara speak Rajbongshi language, colloquially known as Goalpariya language.
Goalpara district consists of 8 blocks:
India census, Goalpara had a population of 48,911. Males constituted 52% of the population and females 48%. Goalpara had an average literacy rate of 69%, higher than the national average of 59.5%. Male literacy rate is 73% and female literacy rate is 64%. In Goalpara, 12% of the population is under 6 years of age.

People

constitute the majority of population in Goalpara. Most residents of Goalpara refer to themselves as "deshi" in order to avoid addressing this issue directly. Goalpariya dialect is widely spoken by the residents and the most spoken language in the area. It was once a princely state ruled by the Rajbongshi/Koch Rajbongshi kings.

Language

The widely spoken language is Koch Rajbongshi. Other languages spoken here include Assamese, Bengali, Rabha, Hindi, Garo, Bodo, Hajong, Nepali, etc. But most of the people use Koch-Rajbongshi as a common language for daily communication.

Places to visit

The notable places to visit in and around Goalpara are:
Some of the major educational institutions are:

College

Goalpara District have a 200 bedded Government Civil Hospital located in Bhalukdubi with all state-of art equipment's and various OT's. Goalpara district have total 181 hospitals including Block PHC, Mini PHC, SHC, State Dispensaries and Sub centres. Following are some private and Govt Hospitals of Goalpara Town
Goalpara district consists of four assembly constituencies which are Goalpara East, Goalpara West, Jaleshwar and Dudhnoi. The first three are part of Dhubri.
Following are the present MLA's of Goalpara-