Sitakunda Upazila - Administration

Administration

Sitakunda as a thana came into existence in 1879, and was renamed to Sitakunda Upazila in 1983. It ranks third in area and sixth in population out of the 26 upazilas and thanas of Chittagong. Sitakunda Town, with an area of 28.63 square kilometres (11.05 sq mi) and a population of 36,650, is the administrative center and the sole municipality (Pourashabha) of Sitakunda Upazila. Shafiul Alam is the mayor of the town, gaining a landslide win over his nearest contender M Abul Kalam Azad in the 2008 mayoral election. The rest of the area is rural and organized into 10 Union Committees (Union Parishads), namely Banshbaria, Barabkunda, Bariadyala, Bhatiari, Kumira, Muradpur, Salimpur, Sonaichhari, Saidpur and Bhatiari Cantonment Area. The area is divided into 69 mauzas and 59 villages. Along with neighboring towns like Hathazari, Fateyabad, Patiya and Boalkhali, Sitakunda Town was developed as a satellite town to relieve the increasing population pressure on Chittagong, with Bhatiari and Sadar unions selected as zones for industrialization, like South Halishahar and Kalurghat. In the 2009 Upazila elections, Abdullah Al Baker Bhuiyan was elected the Upazila Chairman, while Advocate MN Mustafa Nur and Nazmun Nahar were elected vice chairmen.

Sitakunda Upazila makes the 280th electoral district in Bangladesh, identified as Chittagong-2. In the 2008 general election, A.B.M. Abul Kashem Master of Bangladesh Awami League (AL) was elected as the member of parliament, defeating his nearest opponent L. K. Siddiki of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). In the previous election held in 2001, Siddiki had defeated Kasem. M Akteruzzaman is the Upazila Nirbahi Officer, the chief executive of the upazila. The upazila is served by a court presided over by a first-class magistrate. The Power Development Board is responsible for supplying electricity to the upazila, but due to power outages the industries in the area are strictly constrained. Anwarul Kabir Talukder, the State Minister for Power, lost his job on 29 September 2006 after hundreds of demonstrators in Sitakunda blocked the Dhaka–Chittagong highway in protest at the lack of electricity; violence also erupted elsewhere in Bangladesh. In case of fire, the services are brought in from the neighboring city of Chittagong. A proposed Kumira–Sitakunda Hill Water Reservoir Project to supply safe drinking water is to be undertaken by the government.