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3.5.1 Background: Gabtali Upazila came into existence as a thana on 24 July 1914 and was
upgraded to upazila in 1983. Nothing is definitely known about origin of the upazila name. It is said
that at a certain place of the upazila headquarters a big tree, the Gab gachh, grew and survived long
years and the place became known as Gabtali to the people far flung areas . It is generally believed
that the upazila name might have derived its name from the name of the place where its headquarters
is located.

3.5.2 Area and Location: The upazila occupies an area of 239.61 sq. km.. It is located between
24°46' and 25°01' north latitudes and between 89°22' and 89°33' east longitudes. It is bounded on the
north by Shibganj Upazila and Sonatala Upazila, east by Sariakandi Upazila and Sonatola Upazila,
south by Dhunat Upazila and west by Bogra Sadar Upazila and Shajahanpur Upazila.

3.5.3 Administrative/Geographic Unit: The upazila consists of 1 paurashava, 9 wards, 21
mahallas, 11 unions, 104 populated mauzas and 211 villages. The average size of population of each
ward and mahalla are 2384 and 1022 respectively. On the other hand, the average size of population
of each union, mauza and village are 27103, 2867 and 1413 respectively.

3.5.4 Housing and Household Characteristics: In the upazila, there are 83411 households.
Distribution of household by type shows that there are 99.90% general unit, 0.03% institutional and
0.07% other unit.

• Household Size: The average household size (General) for the upazila is 3.8 persons, for
rural area the size is also 3.8 and for urban area the size is slightly higher i.e. 3.9.

• Type of Housing Structure: In the upazila, 2.3% general households live in pucca house,
17.5% in semi-pucca house, 79.8% in kutcha house and the remaining 0.4% live in jhupri
which is shown in a pie-chart in figure 5.1.

Figure 5.1: Housing structure by type, 2011

79.8%
0.4%
2.3%

17.5%

Pucca Semi‐Pucca Kutcha Jhupri

• Source of Drinking Water: In Gabtali Upazila, 98.0% general households get the facility of
drinking water from tube-well, 0.3% from tap and the remaining 1.7% household get water
from other sources.

• Sanitation: In the upazila, 65.1% general households use sanitary latrine, 25.0% non-
sanitary latrine and the remaining 9.9% have no toilet facility.

• Access to Electricity: All the 11 unions of the upazila have brought under the Rural
Electrification Program. However, a total of 46.2% general households reported to have
electricity connection in the entire upazila in 2011 as against 15.3% in 2001.

28 Community Report: Bogra