Present Dinajpur District lies between 25o63′ N to 88o65′ E in North Bengal, once the largest district now has an area of about 3437.98 sq km in Bangladesh. It is enclosed by Phanchagarh and Thakurgaon Districts on the north, Joypurhat and Gaibandha districts on the south, Nilphamari districts on the east, North and South Dinajpur Districts of West Bengal, India on the West.
The Boundary of Dinajpur before 1947
The area covered by the district was formerly much greater than it was at the time of partition (1947). It included the greater portion of the districts of Bogura and Malda and considerable tracts now included in Rajshahi, Rangpur and Purnea. When Dinajpur first came under British rule in 1765 it was known for the lawlessness of its inhabitants and the district’s staff failed to cope successfully with the dacoits and the river pirates with which a large tract of land was infested. The area was, therefore, gradually reduced with the object of improving the administration. During the year 1800-01 a large number of estates, hitherto included in Dinajpur, were made over to Purnea, Rangpur and Rajshahi. From 1833 to 1870 a large portion of the district was transferred to Bogura and Maldah. Finally in 1897-98 the whole thana of Mahadevpur(now in Noagaon District) in the south of the district was transferred to Rajshashi.At that time, except Thakurgaon Sub division, the rest of Dinajpur district remained under the direct supervision of the Collector. In November, 1904 five Thanas of Balurghat, Gangarampur, Porsha, Patnitola and Phulbari were separated to form a new subdivision called Balurghat.
The Boundary of Dinajpur after 1947
The district got its present boundary(along with Thakurgaon District) and area at the time of partition in 1947 in accordance with the Radcliff Award and subsequent realignments.
It is bounded on the north by the district of Jalpaiguri in west Bengal(India), on the west by Bihar (India) and the district of west dinajpur(India), on the south by a portion of the district of west Dinajpur (India) and the district of Bogura, and on the east by the district of Rangpur. The south-western boundary which separates the district from erstwhile west Dinajpur (India) was formed in accordance with the award of Sir Cyril Radcliff which runs as follows:
According to Radcliff line, “A line, shall be drawn along the boundary between the Thana of Phanisdewa in the district of Darjeeling and the Thana Tetulia in the district of Jalpaiguri from the point where that boundary between the Thana of Tetulia and Rajganj; the Thana of Panchagar and Jalpaiguri, and shall then continue along the northern corner of the thana Debiganj to the boundary of the state of Cooch-Bihar. The District of Jalpaiguri as lies north of this line shall belong to West Bengal, but the Thana of Patgram and any other portion of Jalpaiguri District which lies to the east or south shall belong to East Bengal.”
“A line shall then be drawn from the point where the boundary between the thanas of Haripur and Raiganj in the districts of Dinajpur meets the border of the province of Bihar to the point where the boundary between the districts of 24-parganas and Khulna meet the Bay of Bengal. This line shall follow the course indicated in the following paragraphs.”
The line shall run along the boundary between the following thanas:
Haripur and Raiganj; Haripur and Hemtabad; Ranisankhail and Hemtabad; Pirganj and Hemtabad, Pirganj and Kaliaganj; Biral and Kaliaganj; Biral and Kushmundi;Biral and Gangarampur, Dinajpur and Gangarampur, Dinajpur and Kumarganj, Chirirbandar and Kumarganj; Phulbari and Kumarganj; Phulbari and Balurghat. It shall terminate at the point where the boundary between Phulbari and Balurghat meets the north-south line of the Bengal Assam Railway in the eastern corner of the Thana of Balurghat. The line shall turn down the western edge of the railway lands belonging to that railway and follow that edge until it meets the boundary between the thanas of Balurghat and Panchbibi.
The district of Dinajpur was very much affected by the partition of the former province of Bengal in 1947. out of the 30 police-stations of the old undivided district of Dinajpur, nine police-stations in full and one in part went to India under the Radcliff line.
and other 20 police-stations in full and part of one that went to then East Pakistan(Now Bangladesh) three police-stations, namely, Porsha, Patnitala and Dhamoirhat(from Balurghat subdivision) were later transferred to the district of Rajshahi and four police-stations, namely, Debiganj, Boda, Tetulia and Panchagarh awarded to Bangladesh from the district of Jalpaiguri of undivided Bengal has been created after Partition.