Rampur Boalia Town
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Rampur Boalia Town
Head-quarters of Rajshahi District, Eastern Bengal and Abbam, situated in 24 22' N and 88 36' E , on the north bank of the Padma. Population (1901), 21,589, of whom 51 per cent are Hindus, 48 pei cent. Musalmans, and i per cent. Christians, Rampui Boalia has long been an important centie of the silk industry It was first selected by the Dutch in the early part of the eighteenth century for the establishment of a factory, and was subsequently for many years the head-quarters of an English Com- mercial Residency. The seat of administration was transferred here from Nator in 1825. The town is of modern growth, and is built for the most part on river alluvium.
It was formerly liable to en- croachment by the Padma and suffered severely from inundations, from which it is now protected by an embankment running along the river bank for 6 miles In recent years the river has receded from the town, and the considerable trade which it formerly enjoyed has declined , it hab albo buffered from the decay of the Bengal indigo industry. Rampur BoaM was constituted a municipality in 1876. The municipal income during the decade ending 1901-2 averaged Rs. 37,000, and the expenditure Rs. 31,000. In 1903-4 the income was Rs. 53,000, of which Rs. 12,000 was derived from a tax on persons (or property tax), Rs. 6,000 from a conservancy rate, and Rs. 7,000 from a tax on vehicles, while Rs. 13,000 represented a grant received for medical purposes.
The expenditure in the same year was Rs 50,000. There is a Central jail, with accommodation for 872 prisoners ; the chief jail industries are the manufacture of mustard- and castor-oils, twine, dans^ and utensils of wood and bamboo, The Rajshahi College is a first-class Government college teaching up to the M.A. standard, with a collegiate school, Oriental classes, and a law department. It possesses endowments to the ex- tent of Rs. 10,000, in addition to which the Oriental classes are maintained from the Mohsin fund. Boarding-houses attached to the college accommodate 150 students. A sericultural school was opened in 1897, where practical training is given to sericultural overseers and the sons of silkworm-rearers.
