Page 38 - Microsoft Word - Bogra-01-Community-11

3.3.1 Background: Dhunat Upazila came into existence as a thana on 15 January 1924 and
upgraded to upazila in 1983. Nothing is definitely known about the origin of the upazila name. It is said
that the upazila landmass appeared from accumulations of silts over a long time in the mighty river
Jamuna. This virgin locality was inhabitated at the beginning by a gang of robbers. The robbers used
to raid passing river launches and boats and loot from travellers their wealth, Bangla synonym dhon.
In course of time the place became known by the name dhon loot. The upazila name Dhunat is
generally believed to be an onomastic formation from dhon loot.

3.3.2 Area and Location: The upazila occupies an area of 247.73 sq. km.. It is located between 24°32'
and 24°48' north latitudes and 89°28' and 89°40' east longitudes. It is bounded on the north by Gabtali
Upazila and Sariakandi Upazila and east by Kazipur Upazila and Sirajganj Sadar Upazila of Sirajganj Zila,
south by Royganj Upazila of Sirajganj Zila and west by Shahjadpur Upazila and Sherpur Upazila.

3.3.3 Administrative/Geographic Unit: The upazila consists of 1 paurashava, 9 wards, 16
mahallas, 10 unions, 90 populated mauzas and 207 villages. The average size of population of each
ward and mahalla are 1578 and 888 respectively. On the other hand, the average size of population
of each union, mauza and village are 27820, 3091, 1344 and respectively.

3.3.4 Housing and Household Characteristics: In the upazila, there are 74897 households.
Distribution of household by type shows that there are 99.92% general unit, 0.02% institutional and
0.06% other unit.

• Household Size: The average household size (General) for the upazila is 3.9 persons, for
rural area the size is also 3.9 and for urban area the size is slightly higher i.e. 4.1.

• Type of Housing Structure: In the upazila, 0.8% general households live in pucca house,
6.9% in semi-pucca house, 91.6% in kutcha house and the remaining 0.7% live in jhupri
which is shown in a pie-chart in figure 3.1.

Figure 3.1: Housing structure by type, 2011

91.6%
0.7%
0.8%
6.9%

Pucca Semi‐Pucca Kutcha Jhupri

• Source of Drinking Water: In Dhunat Upazila, 97.0% general households get the facility of
drinking water from tube-well, 0.2% from tap and the remaining 2.8% household get water
from other sources.

• Sanitation: In the upazila, 66.3% general households use sanitary latrine, 25.1% non-
sanitary latrine and the remaining 8.6% have no toilet facility.

• Access to Electricity: All the 10 unions of the upazila have brought under the Rural
Electrification Program. However, a total of 26.9% general households reported to have
electricity connection in the entire upazila in 2011 as against 5.8% in 2001.

20 Community Report: Bogra