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Khagrachari খাগড়াছড়ি
—  District  —
Location of Khagrachari in Bangladesh
Coordinates: 23°02′30″N 91°59′40″E / 23.0417°N 91.9944°E / 23.0417; 91.9944Coordinates: 23°02′30″N 91°59′40″E / 23.0417°N 91.9944°E / 23.0417; 91.9944
Country	Bangladesh
Division	Chittagong Division
Area
• Total	2,699.55 km2 (1,042.30 sq mi)
Population (1991)
• Total	524,961
• Density	190/km2 (500/sq mi)
Literacy rate
• Total	26.3%
Time zone	BST (UTC+6)
• Summer (DST)	BDST (UTC+7)
Website	Banglapedia Article

Tribal women near Ful Biju Chengi River, Khagrachhori. Photo:Biplob Rahman

Khagrachari (Bengali: খাগড়াছড়ি) is a district in south-eastern Bangladesh. It is a part of the Chittagong Division and the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Its local name is "Chengmi". Khagrachari is also known as Phalang Htaung (ဖလံေထာင္) or the Mong Circle (of the rest of the three hill districts Rangamati is the Chakma Circle (သက္ေထာင္) and Bandarban (ဗိုလ္မင္းေထာင္) is the Bohmong Circle).

Khagrachari town is the home town of the Mong Chief (currently King, or Raja, Saching Prue Chowdhury ဗိုလ္မင္း သာစိန္ျဖဴ) who is the head of the Arakanese descendants living in the circle. It also is the administrative headquarter of Khagrachari district.

Geography[link]

Khagrachari is a valley. It has three river namely Chengi, Kasalong and Maini. Chengi is the longest river in Khagrachari. Most of the land of Khagrachari are hilly areas.

Subdivisions[link]

Upazilas under this district are:

1. Dighinala Upazila
2. Khagrachhari Upazila
3. Lakshmichhari Upazila
4. Mahalchhari Upazila
5. Manikchhari Upazila
6. Matiranga Upazila
7. Panchhari Upazila
8. Ramgarh Upazila

Administration[link]

Administrator of Zila Porishod: Kujendrolaal Tripura

Deputy Commissioner (DC): Anis-Ul-Haque Bhuiya [1]

Economy[link]

Most of the people lives on Jhum cultivation.

NGO in Khagrachari: Parbatya Bouddha Mission (PBM), established in 1983,a non profit organization, is working for the socio-economic, educational and cultural development of the poor people in the Khagrachari Hill District of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh.^[1]

Education[link]

Khagrachori Govt. College, established in 1975. The college is now situated on 8.5 acres of land in a beautiful natural environment near the entrance gate of Khagrachari town beside the main road of the hilly district.^[2]

Places of interest[link]

Khagrachari’s attractive tourists’ spots[link]

1. Alutila Tourists spot: Khagrachari – Chittagong Road, 5 km away from the Parjatan motel. Local Buses, Chader gari, fare- 8/10 tk. Microbus can be rented as well.

2. Alutila Mysterious Cave: East of the Alutila Tourists’ spot under the mountain 150 meter long flowing natural waterfall. Chittagong Road, 5 km shout from the motel. Local Buses or Chader gari, fare- 8/10 tk. Microbus can be rented as well.

3. Richhang waterfall: Khagrachari – Chittagong road the area of Hridoy member. 7 km shout from the Porjoton motel. 2 km shout from Alutila, 1.50 km from east from the main road. Local bus or Chader gari until Hridoy Member area. Rest 1.50 km by foot.

4. Hundred or more years old banyan tree: Hundred or more years old banyan tree which is spreading almost 2 acres. Till Matiranga 10 number region of Khagrachari- Chittagong Road Buses / chader gari. Fare 10/15 tk, and rest 2.5 km by foot or own vehicles.

5. Nunchhori Debota Pond: The Nunchhori Tripura Village is 13 km south from Porjoton motel, 4 km west from Maishkhali Army camp of Khagrachari – Rangamati road. From there almost 1500 feet above, at the peak of the Mountain is the Debota lake. Local bus or chader gari of Khagrachari – Rangamati Route until Maishchori Army camp. Rest of the 4–5 km by foot. If there is private car then it can go until the Tripura Village.

6. Yonged Buddha Bihar: At Khagrachari town, 2 km far from Motel. Accessible by rickshaw.

7. Panichari Brihot Buddha sculpture: Shantipur Arannya Kuthir - 25 km south from Khagrachari is peripheral region. The largest Buddha sculpture of Bangladesh is situated here. Khagrachari – Panichari Local bus fare- 35 tk. The road is flat.

8. Dighinala Manikker Dighi: One regional town situated 21 km south from Khagrachari. The Jhulonto Bridge, Buddha Bihar, Raja Manikker Dighi, Tribal culture, tradition and ancient standard of living. Khagrachari – Dighinala Bus/ 4 Wheel drive gyp.

9. Dighinala Touduchhori Waterfall: It contains wild Elephants roaming around in groups; the place is cluttered with enormous stones and waterfalls. From Khagrachari – Dighinala road Bus/ Chader gari (gyp), fares 25/40 tk. Rest of the road by foot. The communication here is not urbanized yet.

10. Shajek and Marissa Vally: Endless natural beauty of green Mound. It’s hard to describe in words. It’s better if a private or rented car is available.

11. New Zealand  : Only plain land in Khagrachari. Green paddy trees and Mountains behind this plain land gives a very eye catching natural beauty. As because of this kind of scenery local people call this place New Zealand. Now-a-days it is also a tourists attraction and its about 10-15 mins far from main town. One may use auto rickshaw for their transportaion. ^[3]

Religious composition (1991)[link]

Muslim - 53.45%, Buddhist - 48.51%, Hindu - 16.69%, Christian - 0.27% and Others - 0.08. Religious institutions 2472 mosques, 937 Buddhist (656 pagodas, 281 temples), 170 temples and 4 churches.^[4]

Hotels and Resorts[link]

1. Parjatan Motel. 2. Echo-chari Resort and Motel.^[5] And many others near Bazar road.

See also[link]

• Palashpur
• Districts of Bangladesh
• Chittagong Division

References[link]

Template:Fariaz Morshed Chowdhury

v t e Divisions and districts of Bangladesh Barisal Division Barguna Barisal Bhola Jhalokati Patuakhali Pirojpur Chittagong Division Bandarban Brahmanbaria Chandpur Chittagong Comilla Cox's Bazar Feni Khagrachari Lakshmipur Noakhali Rangamati Dhaka Division Dhaka Faridpur Gazipur Gopalganj Jamalpur Kishoreganj Madaripur Manikgonj Munshiganj Mymensingh Narayanganj Narsingdi Netrokona Rajbari Shariatpur Sherpur Tangail Khulna Division Bagerhat Chuadanga Jessore Jhenaidah Khulna Kushtia Magura Meherpur Narail Satkhira Rajshahi Division Bogra Joypurhat Naogaon Natore Nawabganj Pabna Rajshahi Sirajganj Rangpur Division Dinajpur Gaibandha Kurigram Lalmonirhat Nilphamari Panchagarh Rangpur Thakurgaon Sylhet Division Habiganj Maulvibazar Sunamganj Sylhet