Durgapur Upazila, Rajshahi

Durgapur (দূর্গাপুর) is an upazila of the Rajshahi District, located in Bangladesh's Rajshahi Division. It is named after the town of Durgapur.

History
The area covered by the Durgapur Upazila is closely located to Lakhnauti, the capital city of medieval Bengal, and as a result contains sites connected to the Sultanate of Bengal. In c. 1500, the Qismat Maria mosque complex was constructed in Durgapur Upazila's Maria village. Among the 456 mosques and 125 eidgahs of Durgapur Upazila, other historic examples include the one-domed Ruipara Jame Mosque from the 16th century and the five-domed Panchubari Jame Mosque. The Panchubari mosque in Jaygirpara was established by a silk businessman known as Bhadu Pramanik and is bounded on the north by the huge Angra Beel and on the south by the river Malch. A Sufi pir popularly known as Kalachand Shah was based in this area and he is buried in a mazar (mausoleum) in Hathkanpara Bazar, Jainagar Union. In the 19th century, a Sufi murshid known as Hazrat Shah Shafi Qazi Rafiuddin bin Kafiluddin al-Chishti (1882–1996) of Dhardiyar, Kushtia arrived to Durgapur where many murids gave bay'ah to him. His mazar is located in Jhaluka.

The British Raj officially established a thana in Durgapur in 1909. During the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, a battle took place between the Bengali freedom fighters and the Pakistan Army at the village of Kabasmul on the border between Durgapur and Paba upazilas. The army major was killed and as a response the army massacred 44 villagers in the villages of Gaganbaria and Palsa. Durgapur Thana was upgraded to upazila (sub-district) in 1984 as part of the President of Bangladesh Hussain Muhammad Ershad's decentralisation programme.

Geography
Durgapur is located at 24.4556°N, 88.7667°W. It has a total area of 197.89 km².

Demographics
According to the 2011 Bangladesh census, Durgapur Upazila had 48,530 households and a population of 185,845. 32,588 (17.54%) were under 10 years of age. Durgapur had a literacy rate (age 7 and over) of 48.23%, compared to the national average of 51.8%, and a sex ratio of 987 females per 1000 males. 28,119 (15.13%) lived in urban areas. Ethnic population was 1,106 (0.60%).

Administration
Durgapur has 7 Unions/Wards, 114 Mauzas/Mahallas, and 122 villages. Post Code- 6240.

Notable people

 * Mirza Muhammad Yusuf Ali (1858–1920), author and social activist
 * Mansur Rahman (born 1954), parliamentarian