This article is about the history of hailakandi district and how the district came into existence.

1. Tarikul Islam Barbhuiya.
Source: - Self
Roll No;-12
Dated: - 11/08/2016
Hailakandi is a town and the district headquarters of Hailakandi district in the
Indian state of Assam. The Hailakandi district is one of the three districts of
Southern Assam i.e. Barak Valley. It is located at 24°41 N92°34 E′ ′ /24.68°N
92.57°E .The area of Hailakandi town is 4.55 km 2 according to the 2011 census.
It has an average elevation of 21 meters from sea level. According to 2011
census, the population of the district was 659,296 while the population growth
rate was 21.45%.
Hailakandi comprises of three towns viz. Hailakandi (district headquarters), Lala
and Algapur and one industrial township viz. Panchgram. A Manucipal Board
governs Hailakandi town and a town Committee governs Lala. It has five
development blocks viz. Algapur, Hailakandi, Lala, Katlicherra & South
Hailakandi block. There is also a small township at ‘Hindustan Paper Mill’ area at
Panchgram in ‘Algapur block’ area. The connectivity of the district consists of
road NH-53 and NH-154 and railway (Broad Gauge work in progress as of Jan'
2016).
There are two reserved forests in Hailakandi District, the Inner line reserved
forest and Katakhal reserved forest. These were once rich in wildlife but now
vanishing due to human attack. Rare species found are Hoolock gibbon, Phayre's
leaf monkey, Pig-tailed macaque, White-winged Wood Duck, Purple Wood
Pigeon, etc., have been recorded. The southern part was also recommended as
'Dhaleswari' wildlife sanctuary.
The main language of the town is Bengali, which has some resemblance to Sylheti
dialect. There are some Bishnupriya Manipuri and Manipuri (Meitei). The
District has 4 Police stations, 2 Police out-posts, 4 Colleges, 43 H/E, H/School,
247 ME/ MV Schools and 937 LP schools.
Hailakandi came into existence in 1989, before that is was only a subdivision.
According to some scholars the name "Hailakandi" has been derived from the
Sylheti word "Hailakundi". History of Hailakandi is intricately linked to Abdul
Matlib Mazumdar (1890–1980), Late Nagendranath Choudhury, Late (Capt.)
Manmatha Choudhury, Late (Capt.) and many more who led the freedom
movement in the Sub-division. Late Nagendranath Choudhury was a prominent
Congress-leader; Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru called on him in his house during his
visit to Hailakandi in 1939. His brother Late Manmatha Choudhury was a captain
in the Azad Hind Fouz formed by Netaji. Abdul Matlib Mazumdar became an
MLA in 1946 and also Cabinet Minister of Assam. He was one of the prominent
Muslim leaders of eastern India to support Hindu-Muslim unity, opposing the
partition of India on communal lines. Mazumdar along with
Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (5th President of India) became the most prominent
Muslim opponents of the demand for a separate Muslim state of Pakistan,

2. especially in the eastern part of the country. Another prominent person from
Hailakandi was the Late Raj Mohan Nath, a noted Engineer, whose authored
many books on different subjects apart from engineering. One of his books was a
textbook for the students of civil engineering in the Bengal Engineering College,
Shibpur (West Bengal). Today's "Assam-type house" is entirely his concept,
which gained vast popularity in the earthquake zones.
Tea is the main industry of the district. It has 17 Tea estates with 55.70 square
kilometers under tea plantation employing more than 1,30,642 persons. The
Hindustan paper mill Panchgram comes to the second place where large
numbers of people get employment opportunities in the district. In this district
there are 4 colleges. 48 High & Higher Secondary Schools, 253 Middle Schools,
1019 Primary/Pre-Primary Schools, 1 Navodaya Vidyalaya, 1 Kendriya Vidyalaya
& 1 Basic Training School.