BNP Leader Kabir Ahmed Bhuiyan Demands New Division of Kishoreganj, Habiganj and Brahmanbaria

Kabir Ahmed Bhuiyan, a member of Brahmanbaria district BNP, has demanded the formation of a 'Brahmanbaria Division' comprising three districts — Kishoreganj, Habiganj and Brahmanbaria. He has also proposed setting up the headquarters of the proposed division in Brahmanbaria.

He raised the proposal in a post on his own Facebook account at around 8pm on Friday (30 October). Kabir Ahmed Bhuiyan is the elder brother of Abdur Rahman Sani, Assistant Private Secretary-2 to the Prime Minister.

According to Kabir Ahmed Bhuiyan's proposal, if a new division is formed with Kishoreganj, Habiganj and Brahmanbaria districts, around 8.9 million people will come under divisional administrative facilities. The proposed division is said to include 31 upazilas of the three districts.

Citing data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics' 2022 census in the post, it said Kishoreganj district has a population of 3,267,626, Habiganj 2,358,886 and Brahmanbaria 3,306,559. The total population of the three districts is 8,933,071. Their combined area is estimated at more than 7,200 square kilometres.

Raising the economic potential in favour of forming the division, Kabir Ahmed Bhuiyan said a strong regional economic zone could be built if Kishoreganj's haors, agriculture and fisheries resources, Habiganj's gas, tea and industrial areas and Brahmanbaria's Ashuganj river port, power plant and Akhaura land port are used in an integrated way.

He believes that if the new division is formed, it will become easier for people of the three districts to receive government services at the divisional level. Alongside that, new possibilities will be created in improved healthcare, higher education, employment, industrialisation, development of the agriculture and fisheries sectors and expansion of the communications system.

He also raised the district's geographical and communications position in favour of setting up the headquarters of the proposed division in Brahmanbaria. In this regard, he mentioned the Ashuganj river port, power generation and industrial areas, the Akhaura land port and Dhaka-Chattogram rail and road communications as important.

Earlier, Kabir Ahmed Bhuiyan also came into discussion by proposing a new upazila named 'Borishol' comprising five unions of Brahmanbaria Sadar, Bijoynagar and Akhaura upazilas. The proposed unions are Ramrail, Singarbil, Sultanpur, Basudeb and Borishol.

On this matter, the Upazila-1 branch of the Local Government Division of the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives sent a letter to the Deputy Commissioner. The letter requested a report with an opinion after verifying the feasibility of the proposal. It is known that Kabir Ahmed Bhuiyan applied on this matter on 8 September. The next day, 9 September, the letter seeking the report was issued.

However, debate arose in the area over this proposal to form a new upazila. In protest against the proposal, local people held human chains, demonstrations and road blockade programmes. From those programmes, the protesters criticised the proposal.

Amid the local-level debate over the new upazila proposal, BNP leader Kabir Ahmed Bhuiyan has now raised the demand for forming a 'Brahmanbaria Division' with the three districts.

In the final part of his Facebook post, he mentioned that others may disagree with his proposal. However, as a conscious citizen, he believes a Brahmanbaria division needs to be formed to ensure equal dignity, development opportunities and an integrated administrative system for the three districts. At the same time, he mentioned the matter as his own personal opinion.