Sonahat is an
inland port
An inland port is a port on an inland waterway, such as a river, lake, or canal, which may or may not be connected to the sea. The term "inland port" is also used to refer to a dry port.
Examples
The United States Army Corps of Engineers publ ...
in the
Bhurungamari Upazila
Bhurungamari () is the northernmost upazila of Kurigram District in the Division of Rangpur, Bangladesh.
Geography
Bhurungamari is located at . It has 57,005 households and total area 236.26 km2.
Demographics
According to the 2011 Cens ...
in the
Kurigram District
Kurigram District () is a district of Bangladesh in Rangpur Division. The district is located in northern Bangladesh along the country's border with India. Under British rule, the area was organized as a mahakuma and was not established as a dis ...
of the
Rangpur Division
Rangpur Division (; ;
) is a first-level Divisions of Bangladesh, administrative division of Bangladesh. It covers the northernmost part of the country with a population of about 18 million inhabitants within an area of . Rangpur Division shar ...
in
Bangladesh
Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...
.
Railway links
During the British era, there was a railway line linking Assam with Bengal that passed through Sonahat. The place was familiar as the entry gate of Assam. The rail link was closed after the
partition of India
The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...
in 1947.
Possibilities of resumption of traffic through the Bhurugamari-Sonahat section was discussed when the resumption of rail traffic between India and Pakistan took place in 1955.
Prior to the partition of India, the prestigious
Assam Mail
The Assam Mail was one of the better known metre-gauge trains in the Indian Railways system that was there from the pre-independence days. The train was discontinued in 1986 with the completion of the broad-gauge conversion of the metre-gauge l ...
used to travel from
Santahar to
Guwahati
Guwahati () the largest city of the Indian state of Assam, and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the seat of the Government of Assam. Th ...
.
Developments
There is a bridge across the Dudhkumar River (official name: Bongo Sonahat bridge, local name: Pateshwary bridge). It was built in 1887 as a railway bridge, with a single lane. It was closed in 1947.
In 2018, the existing road bridge across the Dudhkumar River was found to be weak and a new bridge was sanctioned, along with a new highway. The Kurigram (Daserhat)-Nageshwari-Bhurungamari-Sonahat Land port road is to be converted to a national highway.
[
All kinds of export-import activities at Sonahat was stopped for 75 days from 25 March 2020 because of Coronavirus.
Note: The map alongside presents the position as it stands today (2020). The international border was not there when the railways were first laid in the area in the 19th-20th century. It came up in 1947. Since then, it has been an effort to live up to the new realities. The map is 'interactive' (the larger version) - it means that all the places shown in the map are linked in the full screen map.
]
Education
Sonahat Degree College is located near Sonahat Landport.
References
External links
{{India-Bangladesh land border checkpoints
Bangladesh–India border crossings