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Upazila

Administrative divisions of Bangladesh

Summary

Administrative divisions of Bangladesh

Field	Value
name	Upazila
map	Upazilas Bangladesh 2022.svg
category	Administrative divisions
territory	Bangladesh
start_date	1982
current_number	495
population_range	596,886–1,634,750
area_range	572–2,829 km2
government	Upazila Nirbahi Officer; UNO (Administrator)
government1	Upazila Parishad (Council)
government2	UP Chairman (Executive)
subdivision	Union councils (4,554)

An upazila, formerly called thana, is an administrative division in Bangladesh, functioning as a sub-unit of a district. It can be seen as an analogous to a county or a borough of Western countries. Rural upazilas are further administratively divided into union council areas (union parishads).

Bangladesh has 495 upazilas. The upazilas are the second lowest tier of regional administration in Bangladesh. The administrative structure consists of divisions (8), districts (64), upazilas (495) and union parishads (UPs). This system of devolution was introduced by the former military ruler and president of Bangladesh, Lt-Gen Hossain Muhammad Ershad, in an attempt to strengthen local government.

Below UPs, villages (gram) and para exist, but these have no administrative power and elected members. The Local Government Ordinance of 1982 was amended a year later, redesignating and upgrading the existing thanas as upazilas.

History

Upazilas were formerly known as thana, which literally means police station. Despite the meaning, thanas functioned much as an administrative and geographic region, much as today's upazilas. In 1982, thanas were re-termed to as upazilas with provisions for semi-autonomous local governance. This system was reverted to the thana system in 1992. Later in 1999, geographic regions under administrations of thanas were converted into upazilas. All administrative terms in this level were renamed from thana to upazila. For instance, thana nirbahi officer (lit. thana executive officer) was renamed upazila nirbahi officer (lit. upazila executive officer).

The word thana is now used to solely refer to police stations. Generally, there is one police station for each upazila, but larger administrative units may have more than one police station covering different regions. However, it was complicated again and currently, Upazilas which combinely form "Administrative Districts" are known as Thanas. For example: Panchlaish Thana, Double Mooring Thana under Chittagong district.

On 26 July 2021, Khandker Anwarul Islam announced the renaming of Dakshin Sunamganj Upazila to "Shantiganj Upazila" as well as the creation of three new upazilas; Eidgaon Upazila in Cox's Bazar District, Madhyanagar Upazila in Sunamganj District and Dasar Upazila in Madaripur District.

Administration

Upazila nirbahi officer

Main article: Upazila Nirbahi Officer

Upazila nirbahi officer (UNO, or upazila executive officer; ) is a non-elected administrator in an upazila. UNOs are senior assistant secretary of Bangladesh Civil Service (Administration) Cadre. They act as executive officer of the upazila under the elected posts.

Upazila parishad

Each upazila parishad (or council) has a chairperson called chairman, a vice-chairman and a woman vice-chairman. All three are elected through direct popular election. Union parishad chairmen within the upazila are considered as the members of the porishod. The post of a woman vice-chairman was created to ensure at least one-third woman representation in the all elected posts of the local government.

On 22 January 2010, the first election in 18 years of upazila porishod was held.

Lists of upazilas

District		colspan="7" width="100%"	Upazila
Bogura District
Chapai Nawabganj District
Joypurhat District
Naogaon District
Natore District
Pabna District
Rajshahi District
Sirajganj District

District		colspan="7" width="100%"	Upazila
Dinajpur District
Gaibandha District
Kurigram District
Lalmonirhat District
Nilphamari District
Panchagarh District
Rangpur District
Thakurgaon District

District		colspan="7" width="100%"	Upazila
Jamalpur District
Mymensingh District
Netrokona District
Sherpur District

District		colspan="7" width="100%"	Upazila
Barguna District
Barishal District
Bhola District
Jhalokati District
Patuakhali District
Pirojpur District

District		colspan="7" width="100%"	Upazila
Bandarban District
Brahmanbaria District
Chandpur District
Chattogram District
Cumilla District
Cox's Bazar District
Feni District
Khagrachhari District
Lakshmipur District
Noakhali District
Rangamati District

District		colspan="7" width="100%"	Upazila
Dhaka District
Faridpur District
Gazipur District
Gopalganj District
Kishoreganj District
Madaripur District
Manikganj District
Munshiganj District
Narayanganj District
Narsingdi District
Rajbari District
Shariatpur District
Tangail District

District		colspan="7" width="100%"	Upazila
Bagerhat District
Chuadanga District
Jashore District
Jhenaida District
Khulna District
Kushtia District
Magura District
Meherpur District
Narail District
Satkhira District

District		colspan="7" width="100%"	Upazila
Habiganj District
Moulvibazar District
Sunamganj District
Sylhet District

Notes

References

(27 July 2021). "Govt to form 3 new upazilas in three districts". [[The Daily Star (Bangladesh)]].
"upazila List". [[Bangladesh National Portal]].
(9 January 2017). "New upazila to be formed in Comilla". [[NTV (Bangladesh)]].
{{Cite Banglapedia
{{Cite Banglapedia
(26 July 2021). "Three new upazilas in Madaripur, Cox's Bazar and Sunamganj". [[Dhaka Tribune]].
(22 January 2009). "All about upazila parishad". [[The Daily Star (Bangladesh)]].
(23 January 2009). "Upazila polls influenced". [[The Daily Star (Bangladesh)]].

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

upazilas subdivisions-of-bangladesh lists-of-subdivisions-of-bangladesh administrative-divisions-in-asia hussain-muhammad-ershad

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