Geography
Uttar Dinajpur district lies between latitude 25°11' N to 26°49' N and longitude 87°49' E to 90°00' E occupying an area of 3142 km² enclosed by Panchagarh, Thakurgaon and Dinajpur districts of Bangladesh on the east, Kishanganj, Purnia and Katihar districts of Bihar on the west, Darjeeling district and Jalpaiguri district on the north and Malda district and Dakshin Dinajpur district on the south. Uttar Dinajpur is well connected with the rest of the state through National Highways, State Highways and Railways. NH-31 and NH-34 pass through the heart of the district.
The regional topography is generally flat with a gentle southerly slope towards which the main rivers like Kulik, Nagar, Mahananda. The District forms a part of the basin lying between Rajmahal hills on the east. The older alluvium is estimated to be Pleistocene age. Uttar Dinajpur is bestowed with a very fertile soil. The soil is very rich in nature due to the alluvial deposition which helps to grow Paddy, Jute, Mesta and Sugarcane etc. Raiganj on the banks of the River Kulik is the District Headquarters where the "Raiganj Wildlife Sanctuary", the second largest bird sanctuary in Asia, is situated.
In Uttar Dinajpur district, there are 2 sub-divisions, Raiganj and Islampur, 110 km (68 mi) apart from each other. There are 4 Municipalities, 9 Blocks and 99 Panchayats covering 1577 villages. The total population is nearly 25 lakh (2.5 million), consisting mainly of rural masses. Bengali is the main language but a sizeable number of Urdu, Hindi and Maithilispeaking people live in Islampur sub-division.
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