Introduction
Kulaura
is the biggest Upazila of the Moulvibazar district, which is bounded by
Balaganj, and Fenchuganj upazilas of Sylhet district in the south, Baralekha
upazila and Tripura of India in the east, Tripura again in the north and
Rajnagar and Kamalganj upazilas in the west. The total area of this upazila is
495 sq km. The average height of this locality from the sea level is about 54
feet. Even though most of the lands are plain, vast areas of its lands are
hilly. A small part is very low lying including haors.
A
few of the companions of the great saint Hazrat Shah Jalal (RA) preached Islam
and lived in Kulaura. Their shrines exist there till today as follows:
1)
Hazrat Shah
Helimuddin Nurnali (RA) – Although His shrine has been taken away by the
erosion of Manu river, his dynasty still exists in the villages of Koala of
Langla pargana and Hazipur of Kanihati pargana.
2)
Hazrat Shah
Helimuddin Qureshi (RA)-His holy shrine is located in the bank of the river
Kanai.The famous Choudhuris of the village Monsur is believed to be his
descendants.
3)
Hazrat Hamid Faruqui
(RA)-His holy shrine is located in the village Kaukapon of Kanihati union where
His descendants are living.
4)
5)
Hazrat Syed
Nasarullah-Even though there is no trace of His shrine, the Syed family of
village Joy pasha of Kulaura is believed to be His descendants.
There is unclear history about many Hindu zaminders and
famous Hindu families living in this upazila. However, many legacies of Muslim
families are well documented. The family of Syed Amjad Ali Khan of Prithimpasha
is not only a featured name in Moulvibazar alone but also the whole of
Bangladesh. This family stemmed from the legendary family of Robi Khan. Mr.Ali
Amjad khan hosted dignitaries like Shahanahah Reza Pahlavi of Iran, Quaid-e-Azam
Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Field Marshal Ayub Khan in his palace in Pritimpasha. This
family draws a lot of visitors annually.
In 1960,Kulaura was divided officially into the following 17
unions:
1) Baramchal 2)
Bhukshimahal 3) Jaifornagar 4) Joychandi 5) Brahmanbazar 6) Kadipur 7) Kulaura
8) Rauthgaon 9) Tilagaon 10)
Hazipur 11) Sharifpur 12) Prithimpasha 13) Komoda 14) Fultola 15)
Sagarnal 16) Goalbari 17) Bhatera
Many famous dignitaries of Indian sub-continent visited
Kulaura and enriched its fame. They included novel laureate poet Rabindranath
Tagore, Quaid-E-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Sher –e-Bangla AK Fazlul Huq, Liakat
Ali Khan, and Pandit Jawarlal Nehru.
The river Manu is
the principal and biggest river of this Upazila. Other rivers include Bilash,
Fanai, Kapua, and Juri etc. The biggest Haor of greater Sylhet, Hakaluki
belongs to Kulaura Upazila. These rivers and haors are the major sources of
Pisciculture not only for Kulaura but the whole Bangladesh. The Haor beds
serves as paddy land during monsoon and yields a lot of crops mainly Boro.
Kulaura is also famous for its tea industries. Rubber, Orange, Pineapple,
Mango, Jack Fruit, Bamboo are also produced in this Upazila.
Apart from haors and rivers the majority of its lands are
plain. There are some hilly areas also. Tea is a major produce of this upazila.
Some rubber is also being produced.
There has been very little improvement in the communication
sector in this upazila. Kulaura is the largest railway junction in Sylhet
Division. It has been connected to the rest of the country with Railway. There
are bus link mainly connects through Moulvibazar with the rest of the country.
Kulaura was upgraded in to an Upazila in 1982 and former
Minster Air Vice Marshal (Retd.) A.G.Mahmud inaugurated the Upazila head
quarters. Mr. Abdul Matin was the first elected Chairman of this Upazila. Late
Abdul Jabbar was elected as the Upazila Chairman in the second term. Government
suspended the Upazila Parishad in 1991. Present government reformed the upazila
system and it has been declared that the election of the office the Chairman
will be held very soon. Kulaura has been upgraded in to a Pourashava. Mr. Abdul
Malik is the present chairman of the pourashava. (For more details click on
Pourashava section).
The lists of the Union Parishads Chairman’s are here as
under:
|
SL
# |
NAME
OF UNION |
NAME
OF CHAIRMAN |
POST
OFFICE |
|
1 |
BOROMCHAL: |
MD.
AHBAB CHOWDHURY |
BOROMCHAL |
|
2 |
BHUKSHIMAIL: |
MD.
RAFIQUL ISLAM |
BHUKSIMAIL |
|
3 |
JAIFORNAGAR: |
ABDUL
MUKTADIR |
JURI |
|
4 |
JOYCHANDI: |
FARUK
AHMED |
RANGIRKUL |
|
5 |
BRAHMANBAZAR: |
MD.
ELIAS MIAH |
KAJALDARA |
|
6 |
KADIPUR: |
AKM
SHAFI AHMED |
KADIPUR |
|
7 |
KULAURA: |
MD.
SHAHJAN |
KULAURA |
|
8 |
RAUTHGAON: |
MD.
ABDUL MUKTHADIR |
SYEDBARI |
|
9 |
TILAGAON: |
ABDUL
HANNAN CHOWDHURY |
TILAGAON |
|
10 |
HAJIPUR: |
MD.MUBASSIR
ALI |
MANU |
|
11 |
SHARIFPUR: |
MD.ABDUL
HANNAN |
TELIBIL |
|
12 |
PRITHIMPASHA: |
MD.
ABDUL LATIF |
PRITHIMPASHA |
|
13 |
KARMODA: |
MD.
ASDDAR ALI |
KARMODA |
|
14 |
FULTOLA: |
MASUK
AHMED |
FULTOLA |
|
15 |
SAGARNAL: |
ABDUL
NUR |
SAGARNAL |
|
16 |
GOALBARI: |
SHAMSUDDIN
AHMED |
SHILUA |
|
17 |
BHATERA: |
MD.
FEROZ MIA |
BHATERA |