Kamrangirchar () is a
thana
Thana means " station" or "place" in South Asian countries. The word ''thana'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''sthana'' or "sthanak", meaning "place" or "stand", which was anglicized as ''thana'' by the British.
* Thanas of Bangladesh, forme ...
(police precinct) in
Old Dhaka
Old Dhaka () is a term used to refer to the historic old city of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. It was founded in 1608 as Jahangirabad or Jahangirnagar (), the capital of Bengal Subah, Mughal Province of Bengal and named after the Mughal em ...
, Bangladesh. The thana is under the jurisdiction of
Dhaka South City Corporation
Dhaka South City Corporation (), is a local governing body that manages all civic services in the southern part of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. The DSCC government is elected by popular vote every five years. It is headed by a mayor, who p ...
wards 55, 56, and 57.
Kamrangirchar was a disconnected landmass until 1991. The thana was established in 1998 and incorporated into the city corporation in 2013. A long-term plan to transform the area into a
business district
Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or buying and selling products (such as goods and services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for profit."
A business entity is not necessar ...
is underway.
Geography
Kamrangirchar is bounded by
Hazaribagh Thana and
Lalbagh Thana
Lalbagh () is a neighbourhood of the Dhaka District in the division of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Geography
Lalbagh Thana is bounded by New Market Thana on the north, Keraniganj Upazila on the south, Chawkbazar Thana and Shahbagh on the east and Haza ...
on the north,
Lalbagh Thana
Lalbagh () is a neighbourhood of the Dhaka District in the division of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Geography
Lalbagh Thana is bounded by New Market Thana on the north, Keraniganj Upazila on the south, Chawkbazar Thana and Shahbagh on the east and Haza ...
and
Chawkbazar Thana on the east and
Keraniganj Upazila
Keraniganj () is an upazila of Dhaka District in the division of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
History
It is believed that during the reign of Nawab Shaista Khan the ''paik-peyada'' and clerical staff (''kerani'') of the Nawab used to live on the other s ...
on the south and west. Its total area is .
History
The exact origin of the name Kamrangirchar is uncertain. According to historian Nazir Hossain, the area was named after a beautiful woman named Kamrangi, who drowned while crossing the
Buriganga.
He also suggests that British surveyors named the area after seeing Kamranga
chilli peppers
Chili peppers, also spelled chile or chilli ( ), are varieties of berry-fruit plants from the genus ''Capsicum'', which are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae, cultivated for their pungency. They are used as a spice to add pungency ( ...
being cultivated there.
Another legend proposes that the name evolved from (), referring to a Mughal-era
cannon
A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder during th ...
.
Sources suggest that Kamrangirchar may have first been settled in the 17th century. In 1912, the government acquired the land from
Bhawal Raja, who owned most of it. Until 1991, Kamrangirchar was an island in the Buriganga, completely disconnected from the main landmass of Dhaka, when it was first connected to
Lalbagh through the construction of the 'Hakkul Ebad Iron Bridge'.
In 1998, Kamrangirchar Thana was formed consisting parts of Lalbagh Thana.
In 2013, Kamrangirchar was brought under the jurisdiction of wards 55, 56, and 57 of
Dhaka South City Corporation
Dhaka South City Corporation (), is a local governing body that manages all civic services in the southern part of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. The DSCC government is elected by popular vote every five years. It is headed by a mayor, who p ...
, following the dissolution of Sultanganj Union.
In November 2021, mayor of Dhaka South
Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh announced long-term plans to build a modern central business district in Kamrangirchar. In March 2024, residents held a rally protesting the plan, which would require acquisition of and eviction of almost two million people.
Demographics
According to
2011 Census of Bangladesh
In 2011, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics conducted a national census in Bangladesh, which provided a provisional estimate of the total population of the country as 142,319,000. The previous decennial census was the 2001 census. Data were r ...
, Kamrangirchar Thana has a population of 93,601 with average household size of 4.3 members, and an average literacy rate of 57.6% vs national average of 51.8% literacy.
[
]
The religious breakdown was Muslim
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
99.46% (93,095), Hindu
Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
0.52% (491), Christian 0.01% (11), Buddhist
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
0.00% (4), and others 0.00% (00).
A 2006 survey of slums in Bangladesh found that the single largest concentration of slum
A slum is a highly populated Urban area, urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are p ...
s in the Dhaka Metropolitan Area was in Kamrangirchar, and reported that of the 300,000 people living there, 265,000 are slum dwellers.
See also
* Upazilas of Bangladesh
An ''upazila'' ( pronounced: ), formerly called ''thana'', is an administrative division in Bangladesh, functioning as a sub-unit of a districts of Bangladesh, district. It can be seen as an analogous to a county or a borough of Western count ...
* Districts of Bangladesh
The divisions of Bangladesh, divisions of Bangladesh are further divided into districts or (). The headquarters of a district is called the district seat (). There are 64 districts in Bangladesh. The districts are further subdivided into 495 s ...
* Divisions of Bangladesh
Divisions are the first-level administrative divisions in Bangladesh. As of 2024, there are eight divisions of Bangladesh, each named after the major city within its jurisdiction that also serves as the administrative seat of that division. Eac ...
References
{{Upazilas and Thanas of Dhaka
Thanas of Dhaka
Slums in Asia