North Bengal

Incredible North Bengal

North Bengal is truly a treasure hunt for the nature lovers, especially for those who are looking for a periodical escape from the hectic chores of the modern city life. Lying in the Northern half of the State of West Bengal and encircled by international boundaries of Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh, North Bengal offers a unique combination of varied landscape - from high mountainous region in the extreme north to the vast Gangetic plains in the extreme south.The geographical diversity blended with the cultures of different ethnic groups has placed North Bengal in the most treasured tourist destinations in Northeast India.

North Bengal comprises of six districts- Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Coochbihar, North Dinajpur and South Dinajpur. The landscape, history and cultures of each district have a distinguished character. While nature has showered his bountiful beauties in Darjeeling with great Himalayan ranges passing through it, Jalpaiguri, lying in the sub-Himalayan foothills, presents a rich biodiversity with dense forests, varied faunal and floral live forms. From tourism aspects North Bengal has immense potential to cater the needs of all kinds of travelers. For luxurious leisure tours, adventures high and low altitude treks, exciting jungle safari, elephant safari, daring white water rafting, remote village tourism, ethnic tourism, cultural tourism, angling tour, ornithology tour, heritage tour and much more North Bengal is just the place one needs to go.

Uttar Dinajpur - North Dinajpur

On 1st April, 1992, North Dinajpur was granted the status of a separated district of North Bengal by dividing West Dinajpur district. The district is bounded by Bangladesh on the east; Bihar on the west; Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri on the North and Malda to the South. North and South Dinajpur are basically agricultural plains. The rivers of Kulik, Nagar and Mahananda flow through the district and provide great fertility to the soil; paddy, jute and sugarcane are grown in large numbers here. Raiganj and Islampur are the two main sub-divisions comprising mainly of Bengali speaking population while Islampur has a large number of Urdu and Hindi speaking people.The NH-34 and NH-31 passes through the District. The name of the District originated from the name of king 'Danuj' and therby Danaj and ultimately converted to Dinaj. So also the name of the district head quarter Raiganj comes from Rai crop.

In the British period the district was declared as disturbed area during the khilafat Movement. The name of the place like Karnajora, Karandighi stems from the mythological character Karna.The district is constituted of Nine Blocks under Two Sub-Divisions namely Raiganj and Islampur. This is a multi-lingual district dominated by Bengali speaking and there are urdu and Hindi speaking population in the Islampur area.

Islampur

AREA: 343 Sq. KM POPULATION: 27, 00,000 approx.

Islampur is a small town in the district of North Dinajpur, located 110 km from Raiganj. The town primarily consists of a Muslim population, which is almost 98 per cent. The rivers of old Brahmaputra and Yamuna flow through the region. Archeological sites consist of the tomb of Hazrat Shah Kamal at Durmuth and war memorial at Musharafganj. The economy is agriculture based and a high percentage of the people work as agricultural labourers; many flock to the nearby towns to work as wage labourers in construction and masonry. Fishing, commerce, services and trade comprises a small portion of the economy. Crops like paddy, jute, sugarcane, mustard seed, wheat, vegetables and pulses are grown. Also, fruits like mango, coconut, papaya, banana and jackfruit are grown in abundance. Due to the relative isolation of Islampur and lack of education in the people, it has not made much progress economically compared to other districts and towns of North Bengal.

Tourist spots in North Dinajpur

• Sapnikla forest, located 22 km from Islampur where visitors can visit the lake and forest for sight seeing. • Karnajora Museum and park • Burhana Fakir’s Mosque • Goddess Kali’s temple at Baira • Malgaon and Kunore – Famous for terracotta work • Goddess Bhairabi’s temple at Bindore • Kunore- famous for terracotta pottery & Malgaon. • Banabithi Resort at Barui, Barduari. • Farm-House at Samaspur, Hemtabad