Karimganj District - Geography

Geography

Karimganj district occupies an area of 1,809 square kilometres (698 sq mi), comparatively equivalent to Alaska's Afognak Island. It is bounded on the northeast by Cachar District, on the east by Hailakandi District, on the south by Mizoram state, on the southwest by Tripura state, and on the west and northwest by Bangladesh. Karimganj Town, the administrative headquarter and main town of the district also bears the same name, that is, Karimganj. Karimganj town is located on the northern fringe of the district adjoining Bangladesh, by the river Kushiyara. Its distance from Guwahati - the state capital of Assam - is approximately 330 km by road and about 350 km by rail. Distances of other important places are : Silchar - 55 km, Shillong - 220 km, Agartala - 250 km. Flanked on two sides by the rivers Kushiyara and Longai, Karimganj town is located just on the Bangladesh border with the river Kushiyara flowing in between. One prominent feature of the place is a long and winding canal called Noti Khal meandering through the town. Earlier, it used to be a connecting river way between Kushiyara and Longai facilitating river communication and also balancing of water-levels between the two rivers. Now, however, this canal has been blocked at several places through embankments and land-fills to pave way for road transport and construction works.Latu is one of the historically interesting village of Karimganj.

The forests of Karimganj were once rich in wildlife but now vanishing due to human onslaught. rare species found are Hoolock gibbon, Phayre's leaf monkey, Pig-tailed macaque, Asian elephant, White-winged Wood Duck, etc., have been recorded. The southern part was also recommended as 'Dhaleswari' wildlife sanctuary.