Alipurduar district

Alipurduar
District
Clockwise from top-left: Evening at Jaldapara National Park, ruins of Buxa Fort, Hut used by Toto aboriginals, Jayanti Hills in Buxa Tiger Reserve, Bhutan gate near Jaigaon
Location of Alipurduar in West Bengal
Country	India
State	West Bengal
Division	Jalpaiguri
Headquarters	Alipurduar
Government
• Lok Sabha constituencies	Alipurduar
• Vidhan Sabha constituencies	Alipurduars, Kumargram, Falakata, Madarihat, Kalchini
Area
• Total	3,383 km² (1,306 sq mi)
Population ^[1]
• Total	1,491,250
• Density	440/km² (1,100/sq mi)
• Urban	307,456
Time zone	UTC+05:30 (IST)
Website	alipurduar.gov.in

Alipurduar District is the 20th district in the state of West Bengal, India.^[2] The district has its headquarters at Alipurduar. It was made a district by bifurcating Jalpaiguri district in 2014.^[3]

The district consists of Alipurduar municipality, Falakata municipality and six community development blocks: Madarihat–Birpara, Alipurduar–I, Alipurduar–II, Falakata, Kalchini and Kumargram. The six blocks contain 66 gram panchayats and nine census towns.

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Administration

Apart from the Alipurduar municipality and Falakata municipality, the district contains eight census towns and rural areas of 66 gram panchayats under six community development blocks: Madarihat-Birpara, Alipurduar-I, Alipurduar–II, Kalchini, Falakata and Kumargram.^[4] Geographically the district lies between 26.4°N to 26.83°N and 89°E to 89.9°E.

The nine census towns are Paschim Jitpur, Chechakhata, Alipurduar Railway Junction, Bholar Dabri, Sobhaganj, Jaygaon and Uttar Latabari and Uttar Kamakhyaguri.^[5]

Railway network

Alipurduar railway division has at least 710 km of railway track. It is the largest division of the Northeast Frontier Railway zone. In Alipurduar district, there are two major stations, Alipurduar Junction (APDJ) and New Alipurduar (NOQ). There are other stations in the district viz. Falakata Railway Station, Kamakhyaguri Railway Station, Dalgaon Railway Station, Hasimara Railway Station, Rajabhatkhawa, Hamiltongunj etc.

Legislative segments

There are 5 assembly constituency in Alipurduar district :

S No.	Name	Lok Sabha constituency	MLA
10	Kumargram (ST)	Alipurduars	Manoj Kumar Oraon	Bharatiya Janata Party
11	Kalchini (ST)		Bishal Lama	Bharatiya Janata Party
12	Alipurduars		Suman Kanjilal	Bharatiya Janata Party
13	Falakata (SC)		Dipak Barman	Bharatiya Janata Party
14	Madarihat (ST)		Manoj Tigga	Bharatiya Janata Party

As per order of the Delimitation Commission in respect of the delimitation of constituencies in the West Bengal, the area under Kumargram block and seven gram panchayats under Alipurduar–II block, viz. Bhatibari, Kohinoor, Parokata, Mahakalguri, Shamuktala, Turturi and Tatpara–I constitutes the Kumargram assembly constituency of West Bengal. The Majherdabri gram panchayat under Alipurduar–II block and the area under Kalchini block constitutes the Kalchini assembly constituency. The Alipurduar municipality, the Alipurduar Railway Junction census town, and the gram panchayats of Chaporer Par–I, Chaporer Par–II and Tatpara–II under Alipurduar–II block and ten gram panchayats of Alipurduar–I block, viz. Banchukamari, Parorpar, Shalkumar–I, Vivekananda–I, Chakowakheti, Patlakhawa, Shalkumar–II, Vivekananda–II, Mathura and Tapsikhata form the Alipurduars assembly constituency. The other gram panchayat of Alipurduar–I block, viz. Purba Kanthalbari forms the Falakata assembly constituency along with the area under Falakata block. Madarihat block is part of Madarihat assembly constituency. Kumargram, Kalchini and Madarihat constituencies is reserved for Scheduled tribes (ST) candidates. Falakata constituency is reserved for Scheduled castes (SC) candidates. All these five assembly constituencies are part of Alipurduars (Lok Sabha constituency), which is reserved for ST candidates.^[6]

Demographics

As of the 2011 census, Alipurduar district had a population of 1,491,250, of which 1,183,704 were rural and 307,456 were urban. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes made up 456,706 (30.62%) and 382,112 (25.62%) of the population respectively.^[1]

Religion

Religion in Alipurduar district (2011)^[7]

Hinduism			80.07%
Islam			8.74%
Christianity			7.52%
Buddhism			2.37%
Tribal religion			1.00%
Other or not stated			0.31%

Religion in present-day Alipurduar district
Religion	Population (1941)^[8]^: 90–91	Percentage (1941)	Population (2011)^[7]	Percentage (2011)
Hinduism	144,898	45.17%	1,194,102	80.07%
Tribal religion	141,716	44.17%	14,866	1.00%
Islam	29,856	9.31%	130,339	8.74%
Christianity	1,385	0.43%	112,091	7.52%
Buddhism	---	---	35,318	2.37%
Others^[a]	2,963	0.93	4,534	0.31%
Total Population	320,818	100%	1,491,250	100%

Hindus are the majority in all blocks. Muslims are spread evenly throughout the district, but Christians, traditional religions and Buddhists are concentrated in the tea garden areas.

Language

Languages of Alipurduar district (2011)^[9]

Bengali (53.93%)

Sadri (16.80%)

Nepali (9.70%)

Hindi (3.67%)

Rajbongshi (3.17%)

Kurukh (3.13%)

Boro (2.38%)

Bhojpuri (1.39%)

Santali (1.32%)

Others (4.51%)

At the time of the 2011 census, 53.93% spoke Bengali, 16.80% Sadri, 9.70% Nepali, 3.67% Hindi, 3.17% Rajbongshi, 3.13% Kurukh, 2.38% Boro, 1.39% Bhojpuri and 1.32% Santali as their first language. ^[9]