Published:  07:36 AM, 15 January 2025

The history, tradition and natural beauty of tea capital's Srimangal

The history, tradition and natural beauty of tea capital's Srimangal

Sangram Datta: Srimangal ( Sreemangal) is an upazila of Moulvibazar District  in Sylhet Division of Bangladesh. It is located at the southwest of the district, and borders the Habiganj District to the west and the Indian state of Tripura to the south.
Sreemangal is often referred to as the 'tea capital' of Bangladesh, and is most famous for its tea fields. Other than tea, the rubber, pineapple, wood, betel, and lemon industries also exist in the upazila.

It is believed that the upazila was named after Sri Das and Mangal Das, two brothers who settled on the banks of the Hail Haor.

A copper plate of Raja Marundanath from the 11th century was found at Kalapur in Sreemangal. During an excavation at Lamua, an ancient statue of Ananta Narayan was dug out.

In 1454, the Nirmai Shiva Bari ( An ancient Temple of Hindu Community ) was built and still stands today.
Sreemangal Police Station was established in 1912.

The central town later became a pourashava in 1935.

In 1963, two peasants were killed by police officers which kicked off the Balishira peasant riots. Then, the peasant movement was led by NAP leaders Nabab Ali Sabdar Khan Raja Saheb, Pir Habibur Rahaman, Mafiz Ali, Syed Akmal Hossain, Abdul Malik, Rasendra Datta, Mohammed Shajahan Miah and others.

On 6 April 1970, Pakistani Police arrested four brave leaders Rasendra Datta, Mohammed Shajahan Miah, M.A Rahim and S.A Mujib respectively and sent them to Moulvibazar Subdivisional Jail on charge of breaking Pakistan.
This was also known as Joy Bangla case under the clause- 8 of 60 MLR in Martial law act.

Leaders, activists and thousands of mass people started a taugh movement when the news of arrest of the four political leaders spread out in the area.

Even, Begum Matia Chowdhury, daughter of fire in the era and former VP of Dhaka University and NAP leader Ahmedul Kabir from the capital City Dhaka came to attend in a pre arranged public meeting by NAP at Srimangal Pourashava Ground and demanded immediate release of arrested political leaders.

Pakistan government compelled to release all of the political leaders unconditionally Following the taugh movement by mass people.

During the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, the Pakistani army reached at Sreemangal on 30 April setting houses on fire and committing atrocities against women.

Office premises of  Deputy director of labour  and Wapda Electricity Department were among the two mass killing sites.

Three mass graves remain at Bharaura, Purbasha Residential Area, Sadhubaba banyan tree nearby the then BDR ( Now BGB) Headquarters area with memorials.

 
Madhabpur Lake is one of the main tourist attractions in the area and is home to the Great White-Bellied Heron, the only confirmed site in Bangladesh.

The Baikka beel is also a nearby body of water and home to the Large-billed reed warbler.

Sreemangal has been nicknamed the tea capital of Bangladesh, due to the number of tea gardens in the area, and is the place of origin of the Seven Color Tea.

The Bangladesh Tea Research Institute in Sreemangal has made a number of contributions in evolving and standardising the quality of tea, and introducing its research findings to the tea industry of Bangladesh.

Pineapples from the Sreemangal area are known for their flavour and natural sweetness.

In 2010, the Hum Hum waterfall was discovered and has attracted visitors from all over Bangladesh to Razkandi forest.

Sreemangal Upazila is divided into Sreemangal Municipality and nine union parishads named Ashidron, Bhunabir, Kalapur, Kalighat, Mirzapur, Rajghat, Satgaon, Sindurkhan, and Sreemangal. The union parishads are subdivided into 108 mauzas and 208 villages.

Sreemangal Municipality is subdivided into 9 wards and 20 mahallas.

Srimangal Victoria High School, founded in 1924.

Bhunabir Dashrath High School & College Founded in 1896, is a notable secondary school.

During the British period, Foni Datta Panini (Bhojpur), Girija Chowdhury (Bhojpur), Jatindra Mohan Datta (Noagaon), Sarada Das Tarafdar (Noagaon), Pramath Deb (Noagaon), Nagen Ghosh (Singbeez), Suresh  Shom (North), Yogesh Chatterjee (Srimangal town), Jiten Pal Chowdhury (Rupashpur), Barada  Kant Sen (Srimangal town), Mahendra Sharma (Tikiria), Surya Moni Dev (Ramnagar), Bipin Das (Uttarsur), Jatin Dev (Srimangal town), Master Gaur Govinda Dev (Bharaura), Dwijen Bhattacharya (Srimangal town), Manmohan Bhattacharya  (Boulashi), Laku Datta Chowdhury (Bhunbir), Leela Dutta Chowdhury (Bhunbir), Nikunj  Bihari Goswami (Kalapur), Hriday Dev (Bharaura), Amar Datta (Bhairab Bazar), Yashada Govinda Goswami (Kalapur), Indra Hom Chowdhury (Rupashpur), Mohammad Yunus Uddin (Patrikul), Nagendra Dhar (Srimangal Town) and many others led anti- British movement.

In the historical language movement of 1952, Rasendra Datta, Biraj Kusum Chowdhury, Yogendra Dutta, Shyamal Sengupta, Hitendra Gupta, Achyuta Kumar Dev, Akhil Chandra Dhar, Doctor Fazlul Haque, Md. Mosaddar Ali, Syed Matiur Rahman, Dr. Abdul Ali and other student leaders who led the language movement in 1952.  They were supported by Muslim League's Md. Israel Miah, Communist Party leader Mr. Surya Moni Dev, prominent businessman Ajit Chowdhury, Kshirad Bihari Dev Chowdhury, Bimal Jyoti Dev Chowdhury and others.

Elites and eminent personalities were MNA Jeeban Santal of Assam Provincial Assembly, Dr. Suryamani Dev, Jatindra Mohan Datta, Ajit Chowdhury, Laku Datta Chowdhury of Bhunbir, Ex- Pourashava Chairman Dewan Abdur Rashid, former MP Md Elias, former MP Mohammad Ahad Mia, former MP Shafiqur Rahman, first elected of Srimangal Municipality Vice Chairman Khirod Deb Chowdhury, former Municipal Chairman MA Musabbir, Dr. Girindra  Chakraborty, SK Roy, Dr. Rama Ranjan Deb, Politician, Journalist and Former Chairman of Srimangal Union Parishad Rasendra Datta, Politician Dr. Abdul Ali, Dr. Golam Jilani, Journalist Bipul Ranjan Chowdhury, Politician Md. Shahjahan Mia, Former Upazila Chairman Ismail Hossain, Former Upazila  Chairman Ashkir Mia, former municipal chairman M A Rahim, former MP Shafiqur Rahman, former municipal  Chairman Kamlesh Bhattacharya, Former Agriculture Minister Abdus Shaheed, Former Municipal Chairman Mahosin Mia Madhu, Professor Nikhil Bhattacharya, Prof. Nipenfra Lal Das,  Former Chairman and Tea Workers Leader Surendra Chandra Banerjee, Tea laborer's Leader Rajendra Prasad Banerjee, Wildlife Sanctuary Founder Shitesh Dev, Professor Syed Mujibur Rahman, Former Municipal  Commissioner Balai Bhattacharya, Professor Syed  Muizur Rahman, Sunil Roy, Teacher Dipendra Bhattacharjee and many others.

Noted journalists were Rasedra Datta, Bipul Ranjan Chowdhury, Jahir Uddin Ahmed, Kamalesh Bhattacharjee,  Md. Alfu Miah Chowdhury, Md. Abdul Gaffar, Bidhu Bhushan Paul Swapan, Md. Abdul Hye, M.A Salam Chowdhury, M A Jalil, Md. Mahram Khan, Gopal Deb Chowdhury, Syed Nesar Ahmed, Rana Deb Roy, Isakh Kajal, Principal Md. Mahiuddin, M.A Ali, Ibn Zaman Shamsu, Sangram Datta, Niharendra Hom Chowdhury.

After the mass uprising of 1990, several young people entered journalism.  Among them Biswajyoti Chowdhury Bullet, Ismail Mahmud, AFM Abdul Hye Dawn, Syed Amiruzzaman, Md. Abdul Subhan,  Swapan Kumar Singh, Partha Sarathi Deb Drubha, Bikul Chakraborty, Md. Idris Ali, Kawsar Iqbal.

In 1976, A piece of valuable land of vested property at  College Road in Srimangal town was allocated by the then Moulvibazar  Sub-Divisional Administrator and leased in the name of Srimangal Press Club.  
Rasedra Datta , Bipul Ranjan Chowdhury, Kamlesh Bhattacharya, Zaheer Uddin Ahmed, Bidhu Bhushan Paul Swapan, Rana Debroy, Gopal Deb Chowdhury, Syed Neshar Ahmed played a strong role in bringing this land.

It's to be noted here that an idealistic journalism was observed from the Pakistan era to the 90s. But in the following decades, the trust & standard of journalism among the common people has gradually decreased due to direct & indirect influence & use by some influential quarters and some newsmen have, also, become biased and sycophants .

Lyricists AK Anam, Ras Bihari Chakraborty, Sitesh Chowdhury, Mohammad Yakub Ali, Ranggalal Dev Chowdhury, Bulbul Anam, Zillur Anam, Baul Abul Kasem, Kanai Lal Tati, Jaitun Nahar Shahadat, Abhinash Dev Roy, Shyamsunder Ravidas, Sumitra Ghosh as cultural personalities.  Rupa, Sujata Ghosh Munna, Rita Chakraborty,  Uttam Kumar Bhowmik and many others.

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