Nature at Peace

Alipurduar derives its name from Col. Hedayat Ali who was stationed once upon a time beside the bank of river Kaljani and rendered exemplary support and services during Indo-Bhutan war with great courage. Alipurduar is situated on sub-himalayan foothills in the lap of Bhutan. Geographically it is land-locked by Jalpaiguri in the west, Assam in the east and Coochbehar in the south and the overall inter-state border is 28 km (in the east with Assam). In the north it shares an international border line with Bhutan spanning 45 km (Gumtu (Bhutan) in the west upto Kalikhola in the east) and hence the northern part serves as an important corridor in terms of international trade and commerce. The land has different landscape features like rivers, streams, hills, tea garden, forest and habitation. Major rivers that runs across the district are Torsa, Raidak-I, Raidak-II, Jayanti, Kaljani, and Sankosh.
Previously Alipurduar was a sub-division under the jurisdiction of Jalpaiguri District and later Mamata Banerjee, the Hon’ble Chief Minister, Govt. of WB, segregated Alipurduar from Jalpaiguri district and declared Alipurduar as 20th amendment district of West Bengal on 25th June, 2014. Alipurduar earned this long pending administrative upliftment based on several factors like challenging geographical position, fail to keep pace with various developmental schemes, population density and number of important establishment. It consists of two municipality, one sadar sub-division and six community development blocks viz Madarihat–Birpara, Alipurduar–I, Alipurduar–II, Falakata, Kalchini and Kumargram. These blocks are further divided into 64 gram panchayats and nine census towns. This place comprises mainly a rural population. More than 80 per cent of its total population belongs to SC/ST community (2011 census). It is the hometown of various ethnic tribes like Rajbanshi, Rabha, Mech, Lepcha, Dukpa, Santhals, Madasia, Bodo and Toto & Oraons.
The district is diverse in terrain as well as ethnicity. Important places like Buxa Tiger Reserve, Jaldapara National Park, Jayanti Hills, Buxa Fort have always drawn the attention of tourists from different corners. The district is also cut across by various mountainous rivers like Torsha, Holong, Mujnai, Rydak, Kaljani, Sankosh etc. A fairly large portion of this District is under forest cover, managed by Cooch Behar Division and Buxa Tiger Reserve. These moist mixed tropical rain forests are constituted with a rich diversity of flora and fauna including some rare species also. Some of these species are on the verge of extinction.